


Wait a Tick... What?

by Flightless_Wings



Category: Voltron: Legendary Defender
Genre: Allura and Lance are Siblings, Altean Lance (Voltron), Alternate Universe - Royalty, Angst, Angst with a Happy Ending, Aromantic Asexual Pidge | Katie Holt, Arranged Marriage, F/M, Fluff, Galra Keith (Voltron), Gay Keith (Voltron), Gender-Neutral Pronouns for Pidge | Katie Holt, Genderfluid Pidge | Katie Holt, Hunk & Lance (Voltron) Friendship, I go back and forth a lot sorry, M/M, Mutual Pining, Other Additional Tags to Be Added, Pining Keith (Voltron), Pining Lance (Voltron), Protective Shiro (Voltron), Reckless Keith, Tags May Change, keith is hella gay tho shhhhh, someone protect my children I'm not doing a very good job
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-01-01
Updated: 2017-01-16
Packaged: 2018-09-14 00:38:49
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 14
Words: 39,971
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/9148972
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Flightless_Wings/pseuds/Flightless_Wings
Summary: Keith had a great idea, everyone knew it was a great idea, everyone! An alliance with the planet of Altea, perfect for trade and harmony between their solar system and the Galra Empire. So how did he get stuck with the arranged marriage out of all this? Totally unfair... Lance on the other hand is having trouble keeping it together over the fact his older sister Allura has to marry this guy she's never met before. For him, this whole thing is just a riot! These two princes have a few shockers in store for them still.





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> Hey guys, it's been a while... sorry about that but look I have Voltron ideas isn't that something! Anyways, I am always super stoked to see comments from you guys from ideas to just saying hi! If you notice anything wrong, don't hesitate to let me know, okay?

Keith was only distantly aware that Shiro was talking to him, but since his friend had been trying to do that since they’d left their last main ship, he wasn’t about to start paying attention now. He was hardly excited about this situation, except for the fact that he got to get out of the empire for something other than an “accidental launch error”. The stars zooming past his window weren’t much more entertaining, but at least they didn’t expect an answer in return.

He couldn’t remember exactly how or when he’d agreed to all of this mess in the first place, but he was pretty sure it was just to get back at someone... probably his dad. That was pretty much the majority of how Keith pushed away his boredom nowadays. This was probably a good way for the both of them to get away from each other and just in time for his father, too. 

Keith and Shiro were recently made aware just how unsettled most of the Galra citizens were. They’d been reprimanded just for leaving the confines of the Galra palace, but it was worth it every time. The citizens accepted him in the market places, showing him their labors and talking to him about their struggles, it was the only part about being the prince that made it worthwhile, even if it resulted in stricter rules and more difficult escapes. Even if it wasn’t perfect--okay, hardly even bearable at times--it was all he knew. So not home, but what else could he call a place like that?

“Keith!” Shiro waved a hand in front of the prince’s face. “When exactly did you decide to check out on me?”

“How far away from Altea are we?” He asked absently.

“We just entered their solar system.”

“Oh, then pretty much the whole ride here.” Keith stretched in his seat while Shiro groaned in exasperation.

“I know you don’t want to marry the princess--”

“No, I don’t.”

“ _ \--but _ , you do want the alliance don’t you? This was your idea in the first place.”

“The alliance part, sure, but not the marriage part!” Keith finally looked up at his friend. Shiro had been there for him since before he could remember so if there was anyone he could take with him on this ridiculous journey, it was going to be him. Still, he was beginning to realize just why his father had allowed it; Shiro was the responsible one without a doubt. 

Shiro sat down in the seat opposite his. “I know this isn’t exactly what you had in mind, and I know that there are some... obstacles when it comes to the princess...”

“Like the fact that it’s  _ princess  _ and not  _ prince _ ?” Keith muttered.

Shiro glanced over his shoulder, but the crew didn’t seem to hear what their young prince had said. “Yes, that. But she’s the oldest. She wanted this alliance too.”

“I’m sure she’s going to just love me.” 

He ran a hand through the short hair atop his head, mixing the dark and white sections in a messy swipe. “With an attitude like that, who could resist?” 

Keith smiled a little and turned his attention back to the window, the planet of Altea slowly getting bigger as they approached. “I guess we’ll both just have to live with it.”

  
  


“You're both just going to have to live with it.” Pidge said, fiddling with the earpiece they’d broken earlier as they sat on the floor of Allura’s room. 

“This is not what I meant when I said I wanted an alliance!” Allura huffed, getting sick of trying to do her hair. That was it, he’d have to just deal with seeing it down in all it’s voluminous glory, it was going to happen eventually.

“What else did you think was going to happen?” 

The princess sighed and crossed her arms in a pout.

“No one likes a pouter, Allura.” Lance said as he waltzed into her room, past Pidge on the floor with a ruffle to their hair, finally flopping onto Allura’s bed and kicking up their feet. “Prince Keith won’t honor an alliance with that sour face.”

He narrowly dodged the flying hair brush that she hurled at him as Hunk came in after him with his hands over his eyes. “Allura, I’m not looking I promise.”

“Ah, Hunk get out get out!” Pidge screamed, not looking away from their project but still slipping on a mischievous smile. They just liked to mess with Hunk sometimes and it was just as easy as messing with Lance.

“She’d kidding, Hunk they’re decent.” Lance assured him.

“Of course we are, they’ll be here any minute.” Allura reminded him. “So you should be downstairs getting ready.

“I’m so ready.” Lance said indignantly. “Look at me!”

“You forgot your crown, Lance.” Pidge muttered.

“Not again!” 

“I got it.” Hunk pulled out the small band that wrapped around Lance’s forehead from his coat pocket and helped tie it on him. “Where would you be without me?”

“Probably pantsless in the Great Hall.” Allura suggested.

“Or sleeping through pretty much everything.” Pidge added.

“Hey, this isn’t pick on Lance day, alright, let’s get a move on shall we?” He pulled Allura to her feet and out the door, Pidge finally getting up and slipping the earpiece on and following Hunk out.

“Got it working again?” He asked as they wound their way through the castle.

“Of course.” Pidge said with a triumphant smile. 

The four of them made their way down the halls, a set of stairs, and through a small, secret hall that Pidge stumbled upon a while ago to save time. If Lance and Allura hadn’t grown up here, they never would have been able to make it through on time. Their father, King Alfor, was waiting for them just inside the main doors.

“Ready, Allura?”

“As ever I suppose.” She sighed then tossed her hair over her shoulders and stood as tall as she could. 

“Don’t intimidate the poor boy.” Lance hummed under his breath. 

Alfor gave him a stern look as he took Allura’s arm and looped it with his. The doors opened out into the courtyard where Coran had laid out everything perfectly to welcome their royal guest. Lance followed them out with Pidge and Hunk bringing up the rear. Hunk was always around Lance since the young prince had accidentally saved Hunk from getting trampled by a runaway horse. Sure he’d aggravated the horse in the first place, but he’d saved Hunk so that’s what really mattered. Pidge just always had to know what was going on from when someone walked through the doors to when they sneezed. Lance and Allura couldn’t imagine having to do this whole royalty thing without them. 

“Are you going to have to move?” Hunk asked suddenly.

“What? No, why?” Pidge looked confused.

“What, is this prince supposed to stay here?”

“According to the alliance meetings, we’ll have to figure all that out. The officials aren’t supposed to be here until a few days after he gets here.” Lance murmered.

“That’s why the ball is happening late.” Pidge assured him. “Although, from what I overheard, it sounds like the prince isn’t very welcome at home.”

“Really?” Hunk and Lance glanced at the small spy with the same amazement and confusion. 

“What, you think this is the first I’ve seen of the Galra prince?”

“Wait, you’ve seen him?”

“Showed Allura the picture I snagged yesterday.” They patted their pocket proudly.

“You stole it?” Hunk glanced at King Alfor as his voice dropped.

“I want to see!” Lance reached over, but stopped when Hunk abruptly shoved his shoulders back facing forward to meet the faces coming up the cobblestone steps.


	2. Chapter 2

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> “No one told me it was her wedding!”
> 
> “She was the only one wearing a white dress!”

Coran was a few strides ahead of them as Keith and Shiro climbed the steps to meet the Altean royal family. He’d been there to make the two feel right at home and he’d gotten that down right from the start and then some; he’d all but hugged Keith as he and Shiro got off their ship, which was an extreme change of pace for him. The tall Altean had lead them the short walk from the landing pad through the gardens to the front of the palace to meet King Alfor and Princess Allura where they were now.

“Oh quiznak.” Keith said under his breath like he was talking more to himself than anyone else.

“Doesn't look so bad right?” Shiro said with a smile as he looked around the grounds of the castle, clearly having missed what Keith had just muttered.

“Maybe not...” His eyes were locked on one extremely attractive Altean high born the only problem was.... it wasn't the right one. “I didn't know there was a prince.”

Shiro followed his gaze up to the rest of the Altean welcoming party. “Woa...”

“Right.”

“You must be really gay, Keith.” 

Keith felt his face heat up as he smacked his friend across the stomach. “Shut up!” He hissed through his teeth.

“Just look at her!” Shiro whispered back.

“Just look at  _ him _ !” 

They abruptly stopped whispering as they drew closer for fear of anyone hearing them. Keith noticed that the two boys standing behind the princess looked at him in surprise, though the smallest--was that a boy or a girl? Did Alteans have gender? They must have, Allura was a prince _ ss _ after all, so who was that?--seemed to be playing it pretty cool.

“Prince Keith.” King Alfor said grandly, a genuine smile that nearly stopped Keith in his tracks. Who was ever that happy to see him?

“King Alfor.” He bowed politely as he reached the top of the steps, Shiro mirroring him and the Alteans following suit. “Thank you for agreeing to meet with me a few days early. I hope to be able to get to know the Alteans and their culture while I am here.”

The king smiled warmly again and Keith felt his shoulders relax a little. “I am happy to have you here, your Highness. Let me introduce my daughter, Princess Allura.” 

Allura stepped forward and bowed slightly. “Hello, Prince Keith.”

He smiled a little as he took her hand to kiss the top of it. She had a similar, warm tone to the King’s and he knew she must be well liked among her people. The way she carried herself, so tall and strong, made him equally as sure that she could take him in a fight if he ever got out of line. Maybe he wouldn’t be able to fall in love with her, but he was sure they could at least be friends which already took away some of the fear he’d been harboring since he found out about the arrangement. 

“Pleased to meet you.” Keith gestured to Shiro who bowed again and introduced his friend. “This is Takashi. He is my most trusted knight and friend.”

“Just Shiro is fine though.” He said smiling brightly at the princess and the king.

“This is my son, Lance.” Alfor said, turning and beckoning Lance to step forward. 

Keith hoped his face didn’t give away how much cuter he found the male Altean to be up close. He had lighter skin than Allura and Alfor and dark blue eyes nearly the same color as the markings on his cheeks. He smiled as he moved forward, though those blue eyes seemed slightly confused by Keith’s appearance, not that he took it personally for there didn’t seem to be much aggression hidden there.

“Nice to meet you as well.” Keith heard himself say. At least his mouth was working faster than his brain.

“And this is Hunk and Pidge. They are also close friends to my children, so you’ll likely be seeing much of them around as well.” Alfor said, including the other two Keith had been wondering about. They stepped forward and bowed to Keith as well.

“Would you two like to retire for a bit before you join us for lunch?”

“That sounds like a good idea.” Keith nearly sighed in relief. Galra ships could be luxurious and spacious, but he always seemed to get stuck with the ones that verged on claustrophobically small. 

“I’ll let Coran show you to your rooms then.”

“Why don’t we do that.” Allura suggested. “We’re all here to get to know each other after all.”

“That sounds like a great idea.” Shiro agreed.

Keith glanced at him with one eyebrow slightly raised which made the taller look away with a slight blush that made him smile. “Alright. Lead the way then.”

The four Alteans lead Keith and Shiro back into the castle where Keith was blown away by the brightness inside that matched the gardens. Tall ceilings covered in nearly all windows, tall arches with even more windows, and lots of people bustling through the main halls. Many of them waved or gave little greetings, not a one staring at Keith for long enough to feel embarrassed. Allura lead them around quite a few turns and up one flight of stairs only to go down on later on.

“How are we ever going to find our way back here?” Shiro wondered allowed as Allura finally opened a set of double doors.

“Trust me, you’ll get used to everything soon.” Hunk promised.

“I’ll draw you a map.” Pidge said absently, fiddling with something in their hands.

“Since we heard Shiro was going to be accompanying you, we figured this would be the best sleeping situation.” Allura said as she swept into the room. There was a small sitting area and two doors directly opposite each other on the left and right walls, one presumably for each of them. “If you need anything or if you don’t like it just let someone know, okay?” She smiled her warm smile again and Keith figured even if he could find something to complain about, he would have dropped it immediately.

“This looks perfect. Thank you all so much for being so inviting.” Keith said graciously.

“We figure you might as well be comfortable while you figure out what to do with the rest of your life, right?” Lance said, obviously uncomfortable when confronted with someone thanking him for anything.

Keith blinked once and opened his mouth but was unable to come up with anything to say once he had.

Allura rolled her eyes and grabbed him by the ear, dragging him out into the hallway. “Sorry about him, when you’re ready, please meet us in the Great Hall!” She called as she hauled her brother away.

Before Keith could even ask how he was supposed to find it, Pidge held out a piece of paper. “Just,don’t go anywhere I’ve marked in red.”

“Why not the red?” He asked, looking over the map that had quite a lot of red on it.

“Those aren’t really hallways. See this one here? That’s a wall. And this one? This goes down a dead end hallway.”

“Why are they marked?” Shiro looked over Keith’s shoulder and looked equally as confused.

“Because they’re more than they seem to me.” With a small salute like gesture, Pidge and Hunk followed Allura and Lance out into the hallway, leaving Keith and Shiro to themselves. Shiro turned to the pile of their bags that had been neatly placed in the shared room while Keith collapsed on the couch.

“You should pick a room.”

“That one.” The young prince said, tucking his arms under his head.

“Which one?”

“That one.” Keith shut his eyes.

“On the left?”

“Sure.”

“Good, the one on the right is bigger.”

  
  


“I can’t believe you!” Allura cried once she felt they’d gotten far enough away from Keith and Shiro.

Lance rubbed his ear and stuck his tongue out at her. “Sorry I’m not as good at meeting new people as Her Majesty.”

Pidge appeared out of nowhere, producing a small electric shock with the small device in their hands to Lance’s side. “Oh, sorry.”

“That was a new level of awkward, Lance. I felt that in my soul.” Hunk admitted.

Lance rolled his eyes. “I’m not good with people. I was just making a joke, I’m sure he didn’t even take it personally.”

“How would you feel being taken away from your home planet?” Allura asked accusingly.

Lance sighed and held up his hands. “Okay, I’ll apologize when we see him later.”

Pidge nearly snorted. “Ah yes, in front of your father what could possibly go wrong admitting to him that you made the prince who’s supposed to provide this alliance you helped come up with feel as awkward as when you asked Princess Nyma if she was seeing anyone recently.”

“No one told me it was her wedding!” 

“She was the only one wearing a white dress!” 

“Fine!” Lance turned back down the hallway, shoving his hands in his pockets. “I’ll tell him now.”

“Don’t make it worse!” Allura called after him.

“Thank you for the vote of confidence.” He said back. 

He hadn't gotten a chance to ask Pidge and Allura how long they’d known Keith wasn’t a full Galra and how that didn’t somehow invalidate his legitimacy for the throne. Lance had seen Galra before, all Altean children learned about their neighboring solar systems because Alteans believed in diplomacy and alliances with pretty much every planet with life on it. So yeah, he’d seen the frankly terrifying face of Emperor Zarkon before, his purple fur and large ears and glowing yellow eyes so... why didn’t Keith have all of that?

Shiro was quite obviously not a Galra. It appeared as though his arm was cover in some sort of Galra technology, but he was definitely not one of them, though Lance couldn’t quite put his finger on what planet he could have come from. But Keith... Keith  _ was  _ a Galra. His ears may not have been quite as large, but they were pointed and  _ definitely  _ covered in fur, though they seemed almost a normal size compared to his own. His hair was black--but really? Who let a prince get a mullet hair cut, what kind of friend was Shiro if he didn’t just help him out a little bit while he was asleep?--but Lance knew he’d spotted a purple lock somewhere in there at least once. So he wasn’t a full Galra, that much was obvious, but then who exactly was Prince Keith?

The double doors were still open to the shared part of the room, but Lance still planned on knocking just to be sure he didn’t walk into someone getting dressed or something. He had no idea how the Galra did things so he figured he’d take whatever precautions.

He rapped his knuckles lightly on the wood before poking his head around the corner, eyes falling on Keith still spread out on the couch. Lance drew closer, taking in a breath to ready his apology before realizing the other was actually asleep. His chest deflated like a balloon once he realized he’d actually gotten out of giving said apology. If he was awkward at meeting people, he was even worse at trying to say sorry.

Keith stirred and Lance nearly knocked over a table looking for a way to look like he hadn’t just been staring at the sleeping prince. Luckily, he didn’t wake up and simply turned on his side, bangs falling across his forehead in a gentle sweep like a gentle summer breeze blowing over a meadow. The small rise and fall of his body and the slightly open mouth through which Lance could hear the faintest whisper of a breath made the boy in front of him seem so much more... cute.

Lance’s face went red as soon as the word crossed through his mind, but it fit. Keith’s hair actually looked really soft from closer up and his face looked relaxed and at ease. A noise in one of the rooms sent Lance into a panic. _ No, I wasn’t watching the Galra prince sleep, honest! _ Except that was exactly what he had been doing. In his state of panic, he only saw one means of escape and so tore out of the room, nearly running into the door on his way out, not stopping until he’d nearly gotten lost.

“Keith.” Shiro said, opening the door to see Keith still asleep. “Keith!” 

Keith’s eyes opened slowly like they were being weighed down. “What do you want?” He whined.

“You to get up, we’re supposed to be going to lunch, not taking a nap!” 

“Allura said to ask for anything we wanted, what if I ask for a nap?”

“Get up.” Shiro pulled a pillow out from under his head, making him fall onto the cushions.

“These are comfy too.”

“Keith!”

“I’m getting up!” He groaned as he pulled himself into a sitting position.

“Look at your hair.” Shiro said shaking his head.

“I’d rather not, really.”

“Yeah well me either. Get a brush, we’re leaving in a few ticks.” Shiro stepped back into his room to look for a brush since he was sure Keith had no idea where they were anymore.

“Totally on it.” He said, flopping back onto the couch.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Waddya doin there Lance? ( ͡° ͜ʖ ͡°)


	3. Chapter 3

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Hunk side stepped in front of Lance just before the prince could make his grand entrance to the party without his crown on. “Honestly, what would you do without me?” He asked, tying the headpiece across his forehead.
> 
> “Thanks buddy.” He beamed and continued on into the party.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Keith is me in social situations tbh

Luckily for them, Keith and Shiro actually weren’t the last ones to arrive; that was Lance. He came in, looking at the floor nearly the whole way to his seat, sitting next to Hunk across from Keith, Shiro, and Pidge. Alfor and Allura were directly in front of Keith so as to maximise their chances to talk and minimize Lance’s chance to stumble into another joke as a way to relieve his awkwardness. He got through the lunch with little issue and before he realized it, their plates had been taken away and Alfor was talking about the party they were preparing for that night as a surprise for Keith. 

“A party?” The entire table repeated in unison.

“Did I not mention that?” Alfor asked with a thoughtful look that seemed a little to similar to a Pidge-look to make it believable. “Well then, surprise!” 

Allura’s eyes sparkled as she looked at Pidge who looked as equally as excited, though Lance knew they weren’t going to spend the next few hours talking about dancing and who was going to be there. He looked at Hunk and shared a similar, unspoken exchange with his friend. Keith just looked like he’d been tossed out into space without a ship and a note pinned to his shirt that just said “bye”. 

“Don’t worry Keith. Altean parties are a blast.” Allura promised.

“If you know who to party with, that is.” Lance said.

Pidge laughed. “So we’ll be leaving you in your room then.”

Keith laughed at that, giving Lance an apologetic smile when he glared in his direction. The Alteans promised them it would be a good one so Shiro and Keith left the Great Hall with Pidge’s map in hand, a million ideas of what their hosts might consider fun, and smiles across their faces. This trip was already so much better than they’d expected it to be. 

“What am I supposed to wear to an Altean party? I was not prepared for this.” Shiro said once he and Keith returned to their rooms.

“What?” Keith shouted through his closed door.

“What am I supposed to wear?” He repeated.

Keith swung open his door, throwing his hands in the air. “I don’t even know what I’m going to wear how do you expect me to be of any help?”

“What’s wrong with that?” Shiro asked, looking over Keith’s outfit. It was simple like most of his clothes with a black shirt and dark pants with a red jacket.

“This doesn’t really say party, now does it?”

There was a knock at the door and Shiro opened it to see Pidge standing there, cleaning their glasses on the end of their shirt. They were dressed simply, a green tunic shirt with shorts on. “Allura wanted to know if you guys needed any help.”

“Just in time.” Shiro agreed.

Pidge looked at Keith, eyeing the jacket intensely as if trying to make up their mind about it. He fidgeted while they stared at him, glancing at Shiro for help out of the awkward situation. 

“I’ve never seen a jacket like that before.” They finally said, making a circle around him. “Why doesn’t it go down all the way?”

Shiro couldn’t help it. He laughed. Keith’s cheeks flushed, but rather than blushing red he blushed purple. Pidge decided to tuck that away for some theories they’d already started on. “Sorry, I just can’t understand how useful that is.”

“Oh don’t worry neither could I the first time he showed it to me.” Shiro said, wiping at the corners of his eyes.

Keith took it off and dropped it on the couch. “Okay okay, I get it, everyone hates the jacket, but what do you propose I wear instead?”

“He’s quite attached to the jacket.” Shiro loudly whispered with a hand up to his mouth as if trying to be discrete. 

Pidge shrugged. “Don’t worry about it, it will give people something to ask you about.”

“Well he does need help being approachable sometimes.” Shiro nodded.

Keith glared. “Did I miss the notification that today was ‘pick-on-Keith-day’, or were you all just planning to surprise me?”

Pidge gave their salute again with a smile as they ducked back out of the room, calling out a sort of “see you later” and leaving behind a new map of the castle much more clearly marked and free of red this time. 

“Alteans aren’t all like Pidge, right?” Keith asked.

“What’s wrong with Pidge?”

“Nothing, it’s just... I can’t tell if they like me or not and it’s driving me crazy.”

“Try asking.” Shiro said, patting his back. “Now, you’re dressed, but I still have no idea what to wear.”

“Which one of us is royalty again?”

 

Hunk side stepped in front of Lance just before the prince could make his grand entrance to the party without his crown on. “Honestly, what  _ would  _ you do without me?” He asked, tying the headpiece across his forehead.

“Thanks buddy.” He beamed and continued on into the party.

Lance threw open the doors and just as usual, he was met with the cheers and applause he thrived on as the younger royal sibling. Being the oldest meant Allura always had to be on her best behavior and had to have real responsibilities like marrying someone she’d never met to save their planet. Sure Lance had help come up with some terms for the alliance, but he was more than happy he wasn’t the one getting right in the middle of it.

Hunk trailed him down the stairs where they found Pidge bidding their time while Allura talked with a few nobles about Keith’s arrival. “What is everyone thinking so far?” He asked when they’d gotten close enough to Pidge.

“Everyone seems to take Allura’s judgement as the truth.”

“They always do. That’s why you don’t ever get in trouble.” Lance said, poking the earpiece Pidge had on.

“Well we’ll see how well they react on their own, as soon as they walk through the doorway.” 

Hunk looked at Pidge with something akin to horror. “Tell me you didn’t do it again...”

“Do what?”

“Bug their room!” Hunk threw his hands in the air exasperatedly. “Pidge, we talked about this, you can’t just listen in to the guests we have coming in and out of the castle!”

“Hunk-”

“No, we talked about this when you almost made me get caught snooping around for evidence the Arusians were hiding people in their luggage!”

“Hunk, they’re right there.” Lance pointed up where Keith and Shiro were talking just outside the doorway where they probably thought no one could see them.

Hunk glanced at them and the back to Pidge. “Well I’m glad you listened to me last time then. Thank you.”

“Lance, did you get that apology in earlier?”

He flinched as he remembered that he had completely forgotten in the midst of his frankly creepy behavior earlier. “Yeah totally.”

“No you didn’t.”

“Don’t tell Allura, okay, he was asleep when I went to go tell him.”

“Asleep?” Hunk repeated. “They just got here.”

“Yeah out on the couch.” Pidge raised an eyebrow suggestively, making Lance blush and look away. 

Keith and Shiro finally made themselves known to the rest of the Alteans and they were also met with applause and a buzzing over the crowd because of their new guest. Keith was obviously not as comfortable being in the spotlight as Lance so without much though, the Altean prince swooped in to save him. 

“Keith!” He said, sliding through the crowd and placing himself in front of Keith’s immediate vision. Dropping his voice low, he continued, “If you don’t look scared, no one will know you are, right?”

Keith nodded and squared his shoulders, once again noticing just how blue the other boy’s eyes were. “Right.”

Lance looked him over. “Nice jacket.”

Hunk and Pidge appeared as well and made a makeshift wall as if to protect him from the avalanche of questions he could see bubbling in the Altean highborns’ minds. “So are we doing introductions with or without Allura?” Hunk asked.

Lance slipped his arm around Keith’s shoulders when the shorter one looked alarmed by Hunk’s words. “We’ll wait for Allura. She’s great at talking to these people and remembering names and all that. Besides, if you two go around together, it will make that part easy and we can get on with the real party afterwards!” 

“What party would that be then, Lance?” Coran asked, walking up behind them.

With his best fake smile, Lance turned towards him and stumbled through some half-assed excuse while Keith took a deep breath. Meeting nobles, no big deal. It’s just talking to people and smiling a lot, he could do that, right? No one here seemed to openly dislike him so that was nice. He caught Allura’s eye and she beckoned him over to her and King Alfor.

“Are you ready?” Shiro asked, nudging his arm slightly.

“As I’ll ever be I guess.” They made their way across to where the princess met them, warm smile present as always. 

“I hope Lance isn’t scaring you.” She said once they’d gotten within talking distance.

“The opposite actually, I probably looked scared out of my mind just walking down the stairs.”

Allura laughed lightly and lead him back over to the men she and her father had been speaking to. Shiro followed at a respectful distance, ready to help Keith if he needed it, but Alfor and Allura seemed determined to prove they were ready to do anything to make him feel at home so Shiro could relax as the night went on. 

Lance Hunk and Pidge spent the night dancing until it was time for everyone to sit and eat. King Alfor took the head of the table with Lance and Allura at either side of him. Keith took the seat by Allura while Pidge and Hunk lead Shiro away since they weren’t supposed to be seated at the same table. Pidge lead them to a painting, swung it open like a door, and showed Shiro where they and Hunk always ate when the Castle of Lions hosted a noble party.

“Why is this called the Castle of Lions by the way?” Shiro asked as he passed a small lion carved into one of the walls. 

“It was an old Altean myth about the time before the Castle was built.” Pidge answered as they all sat down to just as impressive a spread as the nobles had done just on the other side of the wall.

“Voltron, a legendary defender.” Hunk said with a smile. “It was my favorite story growing up, all the Alteans learn the story of Voltron.”

“Voltron?”

“Don’t worry, we’ll tell you the story later. Allura tells it the best.” Pidge insisted. 

They dug into their meal, introducing Shiro to a few staff members who passed by and welcoming any who had a minute to grab a bite. Pidge and Hunk told Shiro all about Altea from their other favorite parts of childhood to their favorite foods and when to get them.

There was a small knock in a deliberate pattern and Pidge nearly flew over to the painting to let in Allura, Lance and Keith. Allura giggled a little, a sound that made Shiro’s heart do a little dance and leaked into the smile on his face. 

“Coast is clear?” Pidge asked.

Allura nodded. “As far as my father and the nobles know, for the remainder of the time, we’ll be showing Keith and Shiro around the castle.”

“Which would actually come in handy, just saying...” Keith put in.

“Come on, this is going to be so much more fun!” Lance insisted, gently pushing him to follow Pidge and Hunk to the opposite wall from where they’d come in. 

Shiro had seen the wall open before, but he thought it had to be opened from the outside and so was surprised to see Pidge push it away like it was nothing. The two of them lead the way across the hall, letting Allura close the entrance behind them. Passing the kitchen--Keith could hear the banging of pots and pans so that’s at least what he assumed it was--Lance grabbed a bottle and Allura another. 

Before he could ask, Lance was leading Keith away again, this time down a set of stairs and finally through a set of double doors so tall he had to crane his neck to see the top of them. They breezed through them, Hunk heaving them closed again once they made it. 

“And now, the after party!” Lance cried, popping the top off the bottle he’d liberated from the kitchen. 


	4. Chapter 4

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> “Thanks...” Keith wasn’t sure how long he stared into those bright blue eyes, but he was starkly aware of when they broke away with an upset stomach being emptied onto the floor.
> 
> “Hunk!”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I think this might be a little longer than normal? I'm not sure really

If Shiro had mentioned before that the first day they’d spend in Altea would end with a drunken bunch of teenagers in a “Star Room” as Lance dubbed it since he’d forgotten the real name, well maybe he would have been a little more receptive to the idea. He remembered being surprised by Allura’s rebelliousness, but she assured him that they’d never caused much damage and she always knew when to quit. Pidge then referred to her as “the mom friend” to which Keith felt like he could handle.

Lance passed him a cup that he’d just refilled and pointed right between his eyes with a goofy smile. “Alright! Keith... I’m gonna do you, okay?”

Keith just  _ knew  _ his face was flushed, but no one seemed to be staring at his now purple colored cheeks. Pidge and Hunk lost it, falling back onto the floor and breaking up their circle to dissolve into laughter.

Lance shook his head and seemed to make himself dizzy. “Not what I meant, not what I meant.” He took a breath as if to steady himself and glanced back over at Keith as if sizing him up. “You are sorta cute though.”

_ Now  _ he knew he was bright purple.

“Just go!” Pidge urged.

“Okay, okay.” He leaned in closer to Keith, dark eyes running over his face as if trying to read him and report back. “I’m going to guess... your favorite color is red.”

Keith smiled. “Nope!”

“Oh what!” Lance threw his arms up like he just couldn’t believe he’d been wrong. “But your jacket!”

“That doesn’t mean that’s my favorite color!”

“It’s probably like gray or black or something brooding like that.” Lance huffed.

Shiro laughed now too. “Pretty spot on, I think.”

“Seriously, did you tell everyone to pick on me and my jacket today!” Keith demanded.

Before they could let Pidge and Keith get into a drunken discussion about the jacket, Lance clapped his hand over Keith’s mouth. “Shhhhh... It’s your turn, pretty boy.”

Keith turned to Shiro at his other side. “But I know everything about you already.” He whined.

“Do you now?” Shiro raised his eyebrow.

“What don’t I know?”

“I guess we’ll figure it out now.”

“Are you two like....” Pidge made small motions with their hands and both of them shook their heads.

“No, no, no, no, he’s just my friend!” Keith insisted.

“Keith is my prince!” Shiro agreed. “We’ve just been friends for a long time now.”

“You were an only child!” Keith half shouted, pointing to him suddenly.

Shiro looked confused at first like he’d forgotten what they were playing then a little sad. “Yeah, yeah I was an only kid.”

“Where did you grow up, Shiro?” Allura asked.

Lance was good she’d decided to ask, because he was about to blurt out his own question and it was probably going to be a lot more blunt and awkward. Shiro took a deep breath and exhaled before admitting he actually couldn’t remember the name of his home planet right now.

“When we found him, he was one of the only survivors on a travel ship. He was pretty young and wild and a little cranky.” Keith remembered.

“Look who’s talking.” Shiro ruffled his hair and looked up at the ceiling as if the answer to Allura’s question was going to be written up there somewhere.

Lance stood and skipped over to a control pad, clicking a few buttons that came up like the machine knew what he was looking for before he did. Around them, planets and stars burst out of thin air and filled in the spaces between them. Keith’s bright eyes danced with drunken amazement, but he was sure he would have found it just as beautiful as if he were sober. He vaguely remembered something like this from when he was very young, but he knew the Galra Empire didn’t have much of these so there was no way he could actually be remembering that. Maybe it was something from a dream.

Allura pointed just above her head. “That’s Altea.” She smiled.

“Hi little us.” Hunk waved at the hologram planet.

“Okay, anything you can remember from your planet?” Lance asked, looking at Shiro.

“Umm... there was a lot of water. I have this sort of image in my head of like a marble that’s all blue and green and white.”

“Ah, blue and green that really narrows it down a lot.” Lance said sarcastically but still punching it in. Planets faded away as they added more criteria into the computer. They couldn’t narrow it down all the way, but once they got down to few enough planets, labels popped up on them. 

Shiro pointed to one, far off to the left past most of the others. “That one. Earth.”

“Earth...” Allura repeated. “That sounds nice.”

“I remember it being really hot. And sandy.” Shiro had a distant look in his eyes as he gazed out at a planet he hadn’t even thought of in years.

“How did you get to the Galra empire?” Pidge asked.

“And what happened to your arm?” Lance asked. He winced even before Allura could glare at him. “Sorry, that was weird, you don’t have to answer that.”

“New game.” Shiro clapped his hands. “Everyone gets to tell their story. You have 30 seconds, go Pidge!” He pointed across the circle and Pidge was immediately at attention. 

“My real name is Katie Holt. My father is a noble who died shortly after I was born. My brother, Matt, is a knight and he helped teach me everything I know. I became Allura’s spy when I managed to break in to the castle and she found me crawling out of one of the air ducts because I was trying to get to the main power source here in the castle. I’m fascinated with technology, and actually your arm is one of the coolest things I’ve ever seen. She convinced Alfor to make me her spy so I could improve the security of the castle. I’ve made my own network of secret passages and corridors that I can use if the castle is ever attacked.”

Everyone blinked in their initial response. 

“Wow, I didn’t think anyone could tell a story in 30 seconds.” Keith said in amazement.

“If you issue a challenge, our Pidge will take it.” Hunk gave his friend a high five that turned into a complicated series of noises and hand movements that no one else could follow. 

“That was impressive.” Allura agreed. “That’s why I keep you around.” She smiled and Pidge allowed the princess a small squeeze of their shoulders. 

“Allura, go!” Pidge shouted, pointing their hands in finger guns towards her.

“Umm... Well I was born into this, there’s not much else to say.”

“Boring.” Lance complained collapsing back into his spot on the floor next to Keith. “You’ve done more than that.”

She thought for a moment. “I was 10 years old when I started training with the young knights so that I could learn combat. I followed my father everywhere from the moment I could walk. Our mother died when I was only 7 and Lance was 5--”

“Hey, don’t mention me, that’s eating into my story!” Lance complained.

“--I went to a diplomacy meeting for the first time when I was 13, and I most recently helped come up with Altea’s terms for this alliance with you, Keith.”

“You did that part too? Your father must really trust you.”

“Lance too.” Allura said, not wanting to take credit away from him.

“Okay, okay, my turn since someone can’t stop taking up my story.” Lance said, taking a deep breath and launching into his story. “I was born 5 years before my mom died, thanks Allura, and I've never had to do the things Allura has. When she was busy learning how to be a leader, I got to learn what the normal kids learned. I learned about our solar system, not the whole universe. I wasn't ever as closely watched so I could get away with a lot until I met Hunk who helped keep me in line. Sorry, you're important to my story.” Allura threw her hands in the air, but Lance forged on. “When people told us the Galra wanted to make an alliance, I had a few good ideas and so they let me sit in on a couple meetings and boom here's Keith.”

“You were the one who suggested I come early, aren't you?” Keith asked with a little surprise in his eyes.

Lance nodded. “I didn't want my sister to leave and I was interested in seeing the Galra prince who seemed to have a good head on his shoulders.”

Keith blushed and looked away. “Well I hope I lived up.”

“You're certainly fun at parties!” Lance smiled and he thought maybe there was just a little pink beside the blue marks across his cheeks. “Okay Shiro, go! Dazzle us with your tale of bravery.”

“I don't remember much actually. I can sort of remember being picked up by a Galra soldier.”

“Thace.” Keith supplied. He'd been the one who decided to save Shiro that day.

“Right, Thace. Before him, I don't remember much but when I met him, he took me back and helped fix up my arm. He trained me as a sort of soldier for as long as he could keep me hidden before Emperor Zarkon found me and by then Thace convinced him to let me be Keith's sort of informal body guard. Keith wasn't very receptive until he met me and seeing that I wasn't a Galra, he said he wanted me around. We've been friends ever since and I would go anywhere he needed me to.”

Lance wiped imaginary tears from his face. “A true friend.”

“That's very sweet, Shiro.” Allura smiled at him sweetly Keith noticed their gazes linger  _ just _ past normal.

“Hunk, what about you?” Shiro asked, clearing his throat once Allura had broken their eye contact.

Hunk looked surprised to be called upon. “Umm... well really not much to talk about I guess. I have an older sister like Lance but she lives in another town over with my parents. I moved here when Lance nearly killed me but then saved my life. I was convinced he’d saved my life so long story short, I sort of became like footman type of thing. Now we’re pretty much just friends, but Lance wouldn’t be able to find his head in the morning without me, so it’s a fun job.”

They all laughed as Lance shrugged like he would have denied it if he could. 

“Keith you’re last.” Pidge said once they’d stopped laughing and passed around the last of their second bottle. 

He sighed. Well the carefree atmosphere was fun while it lasted. “Well... I guess you’ve noticed, but I’m not 100% Galra.”

“The face gave it away.” Pidge admitted.

“And lack of fangs.” Hunk agreed. “I imagine you’d be a little scarier with them.”

“Well yeah, my mother was a visiting royal and well I was born to not a Galra mother.” He loathed getting into this conversation. “Anyways, the King apparently sucks at having kids because I’m literally the only one who he could claim so when my mother brought us back to tell him, he took me and forbade her to set foot on Galra territory again so that I could be raised as an heir without her distracting me. I was only about 5.”

Keith looked around at the stunned, silent people around him. Shiro of course knew the story, but he still looked at him with this sort of sadness like he wished he could just hide Keith away from the world. All of them but Lance seemed to look just devastated for him, but the Altean prince looked interested like Keith was some story character that had this fantastic background he was reading about. That look gave him the power to get through the rest of his story just as he was about to start fading out. 

“So he had me train and learn and attend all these meetings and I pretty much never had real friends before Shiro. I had people who liked the Galra prince, but they didn’t really like  _ me _ . I was a prince before I was a person, before I was a son.” He was staring so intently at the ground that he was almost afraid it would start smoking. “But I was good at it. I didn’t want my mother to hear that I wasn’t at least good at what I was doing so I worked hard at it and I got  _ good _ . I spent as much time as I could outside with the people and they taught me just as much about day to day life as my father ever did about how to rule people. There’s more to being a ruler than just wearing a crown, you know? It’s like a job and to do your job you have to know what’s going on so I found out what was going on.”

He looked up to see everyone continue their staring.

“That’s amazing.” Lance finally said, his cheeks certainly pink now. 

“Really?” Keith blinked like he couldn’t connect the word and himself being stuck in the same context.

“Really.” Lance nodded, his face lacking that usual smirk or humorous glint in his eyes, now only harboring slight wonder and complete sincerity.

“Thanks...” Keith wasn’t sure how long he stared into those bright blue eyes, but he was starkly aware of when they broke away with an upset stomach being emptied onto the floor.

“Hunk!” 

  
  


Shiro and Allura ran to get help while Pidge hid somewhere among the machinery holding their nose to avoid throwing up themselves. Lance came back after having filled up a few cups with water. That humorous smile was back as he came in, telling Keith that this was usually how one of their parties ended. 

“Not  _ normally _ ...” Hunk tried to deny.

“Oh right, only about 75% of the time. You’re right, just  _ mostly _ .” Lance teased, handing him another cup once he’d drained the first one. 

By the time Shiro and Allura had returned with cleaning supplies, Hunk was feeling much better. Hunk helped clean and Shiro insisted the princes and princess not have to help. Of course, no one listened and in no time the six of them had it all cleaned up, not even the smell left behind once Pidge had their way with the air spray. 

“You think he’d learn.” Lance shook his head in mock disapproval as Hunk sat back down.

Hunk shrugged. “Eventually I will figure out the right amount.”

“Try working up to it, not working backwards next time.” Shiro suggested. “In other news, I hear that you, Princess, tell a good story.”

Allura raised her eyebrow. “Do I?”

“Pidge and Hunk mentioned Voltron earlier.”

“I loved that story growing up.” Lance sighed with a smile as he fell back to lie out on the floor with his hands beneath his head. “Go ahead, tell it Allura.”

“Yeah Allura.” Pidge insisted.

“Come on!” Hunk begged.

“Alright!” She laughed slightly and fixed herself up, patting down her hair and smoothing out her skirt as she sat up straight. “Robot lions. The end.”

“Allura!” Lance whined.

She laughed again, harder this time, her smiling reaching all the way up to her eyes. “Okay, okay. Voltron is the reason we call this the Castle of Lions. A long time ago, Altea was being attacked by a race that was called the Drule Empire. They were blood thirsty, as if only the complete eradication of Altea would make them finally satisfied. For a long time, the Voltron lions were merely a tale from the last time Altea had been attacked at least thousands of years before it was called Altea. One day, five unsuspecting Alteans stumbled upon these lions deep within an underground cavern and woke them. These were the five paladins who could form Altea’s greatest defender, Voltron. Each paladin was the pilot of a robotic lion and received a bayard so they were never unprepared. Red, Blue, Green, Yellow, and the leader, the Black Lion.”

“Blue was always my favorite.” Lance said.

“You like when I tell the story so much because you know when to interrupt, don’t you?” Allura glared at him.

Pidge yawned, leaning against Hunk. “Shut up, Lance, let her finish.”

“The paladins had to work together, both inside their machines and on their own, to create Voltron, a warrior who could defend Altea from any threat. Voltron always appeared when called for, whenever someone needed them. Eventually, the paladins were able to defeat the Drule Empire’s fleets and armies and Altea was saved. The Drule empire receded into the farthest reaches of the universe and to this day we have not seen them since. This castle was built for them. The five heroes who dared to save us at any cost to themselves, to the five heroes who would lay down their own lives for the sake of millions more, to the strangers who fell into such a strong bond of friendship and love. But just as the castle was completed... they vanished.” She paused and Shiro and Keith realized they’d been leaning forward in anticipation of her words. “The five paladins and their lions, our greatest defender, disappeared thousands of years ago and had not been seen since. And yet, we tell the story to children, to friends, to ourselves to remember how these paladins fought and lived and loved. We tell the story to remind everyone we know about their lives and how they continue to live on in us, weather or not they live on anywhere else.”

Shiro wasn’t sure if it would have been weird to clap, but he had the odd urge to just do it anyways. 

“That’s an awesome story.” Keith said softly. “Voltron...”

Allura smiled like she just remembered she was in front of an audience. “Well, they all seem to like the way I tell it.”

“Pidge is just the worst.” Lance said, rolling back up into a sitting position. “But yeah, she’s the best I’ve ever heard and I’ve heard it a million times.” 

“So no one knows where the they went?” Keith asked.

“No, they just disappeared one day.” Allura sighed.

A small snore crept out of Pidge and then a larger one from Hunk as they were lying in a heap next to Allura. Lance turned to her suddenly. “I call Pidge!” 

Her eyes grew wide. “Wait, redo!” 

“No, I won!” 

“You didn’t warn me!” 

“You heard the snore too!”

“What just happened here?” Shiro asked, looking between them.

“Every time we do this, they’re the first two to go out so we see who has to lug who back up to their rooms.” She explained.

“Well he’s your best friend, shouldn’t you just always pick Hunk?” Keith looked confused and Lance assumed it was because he didn’t have an older sister.

“Yes, he should!” Allura gesticulated wildly toward the pile of their two friends. “He sleeps like a log, I have to drag him up there by myself!”

“Pidge will latch on in their sleep like a backpack. It’s the best.” Lance said smugly.

“I’ll help you.” Shiro offered to Allura.

“Thank you, Shiro!” She put her hand on his shoulder lightly. “Well, since they’re out, I suppose we should all be heading to bed. You’ll be attending tomorrow’s meeting I assume?” 

Keith sighed and nodded. Right, they were royalty. They had responsibilities on the other side of that door. Once they passed through it, they wouldn't just be teenagers getting to know each other anymore, they’d be the future leaders of entire races who had to behave as such.

Allura and Shiro lifted Hunk off the floor and made their way towards the door, giggling about nearly falling over from their wobbly legs. Shiro almost ran into the door as they pried them open, but managed to keep hold of Hunk and his balance enough to get out into the hallway.

“Do you think if we just waited here, they wouldn’t come looking for us?” Lance said softly but not because Pidge was sleeping still. He hadn’t moved from his spot except to turn his head and watch his sister and Shiro leave with Hunk. His fingers were fiddling with whatever they could find on the ground like he needed to find something, anything, to keep him here.

“Maybe,” Keith answered just as softly. He didn’t really believe that, but something made him want to. 

“Probably not.” The Altean prince sighed then stood to pick up Pidge. They weren’t kidding earlier, as soon as Lance looped the small Altean’s arms around his neck, they latched together and it was like carrying a backpack. “I’m glad you came. You’re not as bad as a lot of the princes that have wanted to marry Allura.”

“Well I don’t  _ want  _ to marry your sister.” He admitted.

Lance’s eyes narrowed. “What’s wrong with my sister?”

This alcohol must have been messing with his head. “That’s not what I meant! She’s great, she’s nice and clearly very smart and welcoming but she’s...”

“She’s what?” Lance prompted, still guarded like he would lunge at Keith for saying the wrong thing.

“Well she’s a  _ she _ .”  _ Whoa, where did that come from?  _ He thought to himself. “Allura is great, but she’s a girl.”  _ Okay Keith, you can shut up now. _ “I’m just... Well girls aren’t really my thing, you know...”  _ Good job, make it worse, why not? _ “I’ve never been interested in girls.”

He probably would have continued making a fool of himself if he didn’t have a pair of lips crashing into his to cut him off. Keith wasn’t sure just when he’d started imagining what kissing Lance would feel like, but he was pleasantly surprised by the softness of the other prince’s lips. It was messy--probably because Keith was sitting down and Lance had been bending over or maybe it was the alcohol, who knew--but it was so sudden, it took his breath away like Lance was trying to fill his lungs with the air from Keith’s. 

“Still sure you like boys?” Lance asked.

“Maybe one more time, just to be sure.” Keith breathed, his cheeks flushed.

Lance smiled sadly. “You won’t even remember tomorrow.” He said standing again, Pidge still linked together like a backpack. “Sorry.”

Before he could say anything else, Lance turned on his heel and disappeared into the hallway, leaving Keith to eventually remember he was probably supposed to be leaving now.


	5. Chapter 5

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> “At least our lives aren’t getting any more complicated.”
> 
> “Easy as pie.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> AHHHHHHHHHHHHH THE SEASON TWO TRAILER IS KILLING ME HELP

Keith opened his door, blinking in the bright light that came through one of the windows. Shiro looked him over and made a small noise somewhere between a sigh and a laugh. “Did you sleep well?”

_ Horribly _ . “Yeah, it was pretty good. I’ve got a killer headache now though.”

Shiro held out his hand where there was a small pill and a note from Pidge explaining it would help almost instantaneously. “You found your way back to the room by the time I made it back.” He said as Keith swallowed the pill.

“You left me the map.” Keith took it from his pocket and waved it between them, stifling a yawn. “We should probably get going now.”

“I think you mean you should be getting dressed.” Shiro corrected, steering him back into his room. “Tell me you didn’t sleep in those clothes.” 

He looked down to see he’d flopped into bed last night still wearing his red jacket. “No, obviously I put these on just now.”

“Funny.” Shiro picked out something simple for him to wear to wear to their first alliance meeting and left Keith to dress himself while he did the same. Someone else must have had an eventful night, because Keith noticed the little bounce in his step as Shiro left. Just like he’d been doing since he’d gotten back to his room, he fell back onto the bed, searching the ceiling for some answer, some solution to this immense problem he had but just like before, none presented themselves. 

He dressed sluggishly and met Shiro before heading to the Great Hall. He opened the doors to see most of the nobles from last night’s party were there and he could hardly remember a single name. A moment of panic set in before he spotted Allura who waved him over. Lance was nowhere in sight and Keith supposed he probably wasn’t required to go since it wasn’t his alliance, technically. Still, he felt the prince should have been there if it had been his idea to bring Keith here. MAybe he was avoiding him. That just made him feel worse.

“Feeling okay?” Allura asked once they’d reached her. 

“Better thanks to Pidge.” He glanced around to find them.

“Oh Pidge and Hunk aren’t here. Luckily for them, they don’t need to attend the meetings. Still, Pidge may be lurking somewhere, at least usually they are.”

“Should I not be here then?” Shiro asked.

“Nonsense!” King Alfor patted his shoulder as he approached them. “The more the merrier, we welcome any input from the Galra Empire to ensure a fair alliance.”

Shiro decided not to point out that only a small part of him was technically Galra. “Thank you, Your Majesty.”

They took to a large round table Keith didn’t remember from yesterday and started to lay out their plans for an alliance. 

“Don’t worry,” Allura had told him as they sat down, “Alteans are diplomats before we are warriors.” 

Since the other officials from the Galra Empire weren’t due to arrive for a few days still, they weren’t going to go over every part of the document, but Keith had a few new ideas and before he knew it, nearly the whole day had passed. Allura really wasn’t kidding earlier; even when they did not agree, the Alteans kept a cool head and worked to create a solution that Keith could be confident his father would accept. 

Coran appeared to be a heavy hand in leading and directing these meetings which was odd to him since just last night Allura and Lance said he helped raise them; though maybe that was exactly why he was so good at this... he couldn’t imagine trying to help raise those two without becoming a master of negotiation.

Once the meetings were over, the nobles cleared out and left Keith and Shiro with the present Altean royals and Coran. “How do you feel about the negotiations so far, Prince Keith?” Coran asked.

“I feel like all of this is going to go smoothly once the rest of my father’s officials arrive. I hope that I’ve helped speed up their job.” He answered with a small smile.

“How do you feel about Altea?” Allura asked next.

“I haven’t seen much except for the castle actually.”

“Of course you haven’t. We’ve taken up all your time today, I promise you we’ll take you out to see more tomorrow!” She smiled. “And you’re invited too, Shiro.” 

He blushed a little but looked pleased that she remembered his existence. Keith hadn’t needed him much throughout the meeting except to point out minor details. “Thank you.” 

“If you’re going to take them to where I imagine you’re going to take them,” Coran said giving Allura a special look, “You’ll need to get an early start.”

“Of course. Father, I’m afraid we won’t be at breakfast tomorrow.”

King Alfor looked amused. “Have fun. And please go get Pidge, I’m worried they may be stuck because they haven’t run in to report yet.”

Allura seemed to realize that as well and hurried from the room, calling for her friend. Shiro looked to Keith who seemed to be looking for a magic word as to when to leave. “Are we going to retire as well, Keith?” Might as well help out somewhere, right?

“That sounds like a good idea. I should write down a report of today. Thank you, King Alfor, for this opportunity. This has been an amazing day to get to know your people.” He stood, only to have Alfor raise his hand.

“Might I have a word in private, Keith?” He glanced at Coran who turned to Shiro, immediately chatting his ear off as he lead him from the Great Hall. 

Keith’s mind was reeling. As much as he’d tried to forget about last night’s adventures--especially after Lance’s comment that he would forget by now--it was like the more he tried to pull away from them memories, the tighter they held him. If Alfor found out that his first night here, he’d been sneaking around in the castle, or that he’d been a part of the cover up for Hunk’s mess, or even worse what had happened with Lance...

“How are you and Allura getting along?” Alfor asked.

He wasn’t out of the clear yet, this could still be a trap. “I think she’s kind and smart and welcoming when she really didn’t have to be. She’s a good person and I think she’ll be an excellent ruler one day.”

The king smiled. “I’m glad to hear that. Are you two... getting along?” 

Keith wanted to scream. “It’s only been two days, but she has definitely proven herself fit to rule Altea.” _ Smooth, Keith, that’s not awkward at all. _

Apparently he passed this little test because Alfor looked relieve. “I know you two have just met, so I hope that this time you can spend together is, well... quality time for the two of you.”

Sirens started going off in his head as he realized when Alfor was asking. “I’ll suggest we spend some time just the two of us while we’re out tomorrow. That’s a good idea.”

“Glad to see that head on your shoulders isn’t just for negotiations. I’ll let you get back to your friend now and I hope your report is a good one.”

“Thank you, Your Majesty, I’m certain this alliance will go as smoothly as today’s meeting did.” Keith all but ran from the room to get to Shiro who looked just as desperate to get away.

Coran appeared to be in the middle of an extremely animated storytelling. “...so there we were, when all of a sudden, the balmera just lets the crystal go! Truly amazing.” 

“Truly.” Shiro echoed, looking mystified. Keith was certain he’d never seen a balmera planet before.

“That was the beginning of our relationship with the balmeras in this area.” He said wistfully. 

“Coran, thank you so much for today.” Keith said, politely claiming his attention.

“Not at all, young prince!” The man bowed slightly. “We all hope this alliance serves both our races well far into the future.”

“As do I. If you’re done with your story, I’d like to bring Shiro back with me to complete my report.” 

“Of course, of course, pressing matters. Shiro, let me know if there’s anything else you’d like to learn about the balmera planets, won’t you?”

“Absolutely.” Shiro nodded as they headed down the hall. Once they’d turned a corner and Coran had returned to the hall, Shiro gave Keith a questioning look. “So... King Alfor wanted to talk...”

“About Allura.” Keith dragged his hands down his face. 

Shiro sort of laughed. “Is that all.”

“Tomorrow, you know how she invited us all out? Well he wants me to take her out, like... alone. Just the two of us.”

“You’re going to implode.”

“I’m going to implode.” He agreed with defeat.

“But you’re going to have to get used to it eventually. You’re going to live here, you’re going to get married.”

“Does that bother you?” Keith asked, giving his friend a sly, side look.

“Don’t start that with me!” Shiro blushed. “You’re just trying to distract from your problem.”

“If my problem only involved one Altean royal born, that would be easier than where we are now.”

Shiro raised an eyebrow. “Meaning?”

“I’ll tell you once you tell me what happened with you an Allura last night.”

“Nothing! We just took Hunk to his room.”

“You took longer than that.”

“I also walked her back to her room...”

“Oh, because you were worried she’d get lost?” Keith asked teasingly.

Shiro knocked his shoulder to Keith’s, making a show of how much he had to stoop to do so. “Trust me, I won’t be in your way. Woo the princess, Keith, you can do it.”

“Well that’s a nice segway into my story.”

“Of last night?”

“Mhm.” Keith nodded, still trying to decide if he was really going to tell Shiro or just make something up. Sharing things didn’t make them go away, so part of him was already putting up a wall between the event and the rest of him. Although, it didn’t seem to have been working today, so what did he have to lose? “Lance kissed me.”

If he’d been drinking something, Keith was pretty sure he would have spit it out all over him just then. “He  _ what _ ?”

“Hey, don’t scream!” 

“He  _ what _ ?” Shiro whispered loudly.

“I accidentally told him I don’t like girls...”

“Keith!” 

“I was drunk, Shiro!” 

Shiro sighed defeatedly. “Well I guess your father was going to find out sooner or later.”

“I don’t think he’ll tell anyone.” Keith disagreed. Lance appeared to be quite a few things, but cruel was definitely not one of them. “He’s the one who kissed me anyways, if anything, it’d be him getting in trouble.”

“Lance wouldn’t get even an odd look. Allura told me he’s been out for years now; boys and girls fall at his feet all the time and he adores it, or so she says.”

“This place gets better and better.” Keith said wistfully. 

Shiro looked at him sadly. It must have been so cruel to have hidden this his whole life only to be forced into a marriage with Allura when he clearly had more interest in her brother. “At least our lives aren’t getting any more complicated.”

“Easy as pie.”

  
  


Allura knocked on Lance’s door yet again.

“Lance, I will pick this lock.” Pidge said, looking for a small hook in their pockets.

Hunk opened the door and the the two in. “He’s in a mood.”

“Hunk, you’re banished.” Lance mumbled from under a pile of pillows and blankets.

“Where have you been?” Allura demanded. “The meeting took hours and yet you couldn’t be bothered to even pop in for a few minutes? I couldn’t go over every single one of your points, they’re yours! You hate when I take credit for your ideas!” 

Lance threw a pillow in her general direction but missed. 

“I’ll go get rover.” Pidge said, leaving to find the small robot. 

Hunk looked at Allura and shrugged. “He’s been moody all day, he doesn’t want to get out of bed.”

“Baby.”

“Hey!” Lance cried.

“Prove me wrong!” 

Lance finally revealed himself from beneath the mound on his bed, glaring at his older sister. “What do you want from me?”

“An answer maybe.” Allura tossed a bunch of his pillows onto the floor and made herself a spot next to him. “Why didn’t you show up?”

“Because this isn’t my alliance.” 

“You came up with just as much of this as anyone else. You deserved to be there more than half of those people.” She insisted.

Lance sat up, his hair sticking up in every direction. “Allura, you’re going to rule them one day, not me. You’re the one who really needs to be there, you’re the one they need to be able to trust, and you’re the one getting married. None of this involves me anymore.”

Allura searched his face. “You actually believe that, don’t you?”

“He’s dense, that one.” Pidge said, walking in with Rover following.

“He’s also right here.” Lance glared at them.

“Lance, if you think I’m going to rule on my own, you’re insane.” Allura shook her head. “Sure, I’ll have Keith eventually--”

“Oh funny story about that later.” Pidge said.

“--but father had mother and he still needed Coran.” Allura flicked a piece of hair off her little brother’s face. “I’m going to need an advisor more than I’m going to need a husband.” 

“Amen to that.” Pidge mumbled.

Lance smiled. “So you’re saying I’m going to be like Coran when I get older?”

“Well, I don’t think you’ll be able to pull off the mustache as well, but yes. Lance, you’ve been a major part of this because you’re  _ good  _ at it, not just because you’re the prince.”

Hunk leaned in close to Pidge. “Remind me to call her in whenever he’s in a mood again.”

Allura held out her arms and hugged her brother tightly for just a moment before he mumbled “I think you’re wrong, I could totally pull off that mustache” and she smacked his arm. 

“You’re going to need to be up early tomorrow.” Allura said, getting to her feet.

“Why?” Hunk and Lance asked in unison.

“We’re taking Keith out to see Altea tomorrow.” Pidge said, following Allura outside. Rover beeped a few times, giving Lance a small shock before hurrying after them. 

“You’re not going to tell her are you?” Hunk asked once they’d all left.

“Of course not! Especially not now!” Lance collapsed back in his bed. “I didn’t think I was going to remember today, I hope he doesn’t but if he does and he tells her? I thought that’s what she’d showed up for today.”

“So all of that about the alliance not being your responsibility was a lie?”

“Absolutely not, I don’t lie to Allura... I just don’t tell her  _ everything _ .” Lance sighed and dug the heels of his hands into his eyes. “It’s just not the only reason. I’m sure I could have played it off like I’d forgotten and Keith would probably believe me.”

“So you can lie to him?” Hunk asked disbelievingly. 

Lance groaned and grabbed a pillow. “No...” He mumbled into the fabric.

“This is why I can’t leave you alone anywhere.” His friend sighed. “Well what are you going to do tomorrow?”

“Well we won’t ever have to be alone. That’s your job for tomorrow, Hunk, don’t ever let us be alone together.”

Hunk stood up straight with a small salute. “Will do, your majesty.”

“Don’t mock me, I’m having a quarter life crisis.”


	6. Chapter 6

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> “Who do you love?”
> 
> “No one right now.”
> 
> Leelah searched his face like she was trying to decide if he was telling the truth. “That’s sad.” She finally said.

Pidge knocked on the door rapidly, not stopping until Shiro swung it open. “Time to get up.” They announced.

“I’m getting that.” Shiro stifled a yawn. “I’ll get Keith up.”

“Meet us in the Great Hall as soon as possible.” Pidge turned on their heel and ran off down the hall, footsteps suspiciously silent.

“Was that Pidge I heard?” Keith said groggily.

“That it was. Get ready, they’re all waiting for us.”

“But it’s still dark outside!” He complained, closing his door to get dressed. 

They hurried and met the others in the Hall. “I hope you two are ready for some amazing sights!” Allura said excitedly.

Keith yawned again. “Remind me why we had to get up so early, Princess.”

“You’ll see.” Pidge poked a spot on the robot floating around them and it turned off, falling into their hands. “Rover, stay.”

“Alright!” Hunk smiled as a young Altean came in with a platter stacked with bowls for them. The green goo that Keith had been introduced to yesterday presented itself again. He didn’t  _ hate  _ it, but the color was something he sort of had to struggle through. 

They ate quickly and without much talk, though Keith wasn’t sure he wanted much discussion right now. It was the first time he’d seen Lance since their secret kiss and the other prince seemed to at least act normal so he figured he should do the same; no weirdness between them if he could help it and that way Allura wouldn’t have to know and make things even worse. Lying to his future fiancee, why not? What a great way to start an already difficult relationship.

They didn’t get far before Allura started to climb down. Keith hadn’t noticed the oddly place hole in the side of a large rock formation until the princess had disappeared through it, followed by Pidge and Lance and Hunk. Shiro let him go first, both of them ducking low to get past the low hanging ceiling and coming out on the other side to see a hill of rocks leading down to a cliff’s edge overlooking an ocean. Keith had only seen the oceans that covered Altea from his ship as they arrived and it had only been a brief glance. Now, the smell of salty sea air opened his lungs and the wind whipped around through his hair, cutting through his thin shirt but he couldn’t bring himself to care about the cold. 

“This is amazing.” He said, his voice almost lost in the crashing of the waves. 

“Not yet!” Lance called, heading down the hill to the cliff’s edge. “Wait until sunrise!” 

They all followed his lead and spread out in a line along the edge to wait for the sun. It was bright enough to make it here, but the sun had yet to show it’s face. Lance recklessly dangled his legs over the edge despite Allura’s warnings, but the others kept their legs tucked under or next to them.

“If you fall in, does that mean I have to jump in after you?” Hunk asked.

“If you don’t, you’re fired.” Lance said with a firm nod.

“Don’t worry, if he falls, my father will know it was his own fault.” Allura assured him. Lance made a face at her which she returned.

“Here it comes!” Pidge said excitedly.

Keith and Shiro watched for the first time as the sun rose above an ocean. The deep, dark blue water that seemed to stretch on forever was broken by at first just a sliver of sun rising above the horizon. The sky was rapidly changing colors now to lighter and lighter blue while the clouds went from red to golden to white. Keith wasn’t sure how long they sat there, but he would have sat for hours if he’d been able to keep watching.

Lance had taken his eyes away from the rising sun just for a moment to watch Keith on the other side of Allura and hadn’t been able to look away. As the light filtered over the water onto the Galra prince’s face, his bright purple eyes perked up, growing wider until he couldn’t watch anymore. Lance had missed the sunrise, but this was a first time for everyone. The golden rays that bathed the group of friends threw delicate shadows from Keith’s hair across his forehead, showed a scar above his right eyebrow that had before been completely obscured, and made Lance see a galaxy in those purple irises. 

Hunk lightly shook his shoulder, effectively pulling him out of his trance. Lance shook his head, getting away from the edge as the others got to their feet, leaving Keith and Shiro stunned on the ground.

“That was the most amazing thing I’ve ever seen.” Shiro said, his voice full of reverence. 

“You can see this whenever you want to...” Keith’s eyes were still wide open as he looked across all of the horizon, trying to see everything at the same time. 

“Pretty soon, so can you.” Allura said. Keith tried not to noticed how her smile didn’t quite reach her eyes like normal. So she wasn’t excited for their arrangement either, though he could hardly blame her.

“Come on, let’s go see the juniberry blossoms!” Hunk urged, pulling Keith and Shiro to their feet.

“Hunk’s a sucker for flowers.” Pidge explained, leading the way back up to the ridge they’d come from. 

“Thanks, Hunk.” Lance said in a low voice as they climbed.

“You should have warned me how much I was going to have to watch you.” Hunk replied with a little smile. “Is it the hair? The eyes?”

“Pft.... no.”

“Okay so you can’t lie to him, and you can’t lie to her, but you can lie to me? I thought we had something special here, Lance.”

Lance punched him the shoulder and hurried to catch up with Pidge. Shiro hurried up next to Hunk once the spot was made to give Keith a chance to bring up the rear with Allura. 

“That really was amazing.” Keith said, glancing back over his shoulder.

She smiled. “I’m glad you two enjoyed it. I figured that was the best way to kick off our day.”

“I imagine the sunset is just as impressive.”

“Oh it is! We should all come back to end the day as well!” 

Keith took a deep breath before reaching out and stopping her. “Allura...”

“Yes?”

“I was thinking, maybe we should just come down here the two of us...” His neck was probably bright purple right now, but he couldn’t really do much to stop it. If he went back with Allura having nothing to tell her father of  _ their  _ day together, he was going to be targeted with another of those severely awkward talks and he’d only just made it out of the last one.

Allura looked over his face. “My father talked to you, didn’t he?”

“How’d you know?”

“Usually if you really mean it, I don’t think you’re supposed to look like you’re going to pass out.” She giggled a little. “But Pidge told me that’s what he wanted to talk with you privately about. I know that we can’t change what’s going on between us, this whole alliance thing is a great idea, but I know how people think. Even Galra it would seem.”

Keith felt a rush of relief. If he wasn’t gay, he could imagine having quite the crush on Princess Allura. “You’re great, you know that?”

“I’ve been told.” She smiled and they continued up the hill, hurrying to catch up with the others. 

They travelled down the ridge and past the castle grounds in order to get to the juniberry fields. The smell floating through the breeze was comforting and relaxing to both Keith and Shiro. A number of children were playing amid the flowers, throwing the petals up in showers. As they approached, they all stopped what they were doing and ran over to meet them, calling out their names.

Keith was surprised to see that they all had such a close relationship with the children under their rule and smiled as a few climbed onto Hunk’s shoulders or pulled Lance and Allura by the hands to where they’d been sitting. Even Pidge was dragged over by a toddler they just couldn’t say no to. At first, he and Shiro hesitated to enter into the circle, but the kids seemed happy to have them.

“Are you the new prince?” One of the girls said, patting his head as he sat down. 

“Umm, yeah, my name is Keith.”

“Woa, your arm lights up!” One of the boys said, gawking at Shiro. 

“This is Shiro.” Allura said as the kids finished patting the newcomer’s heads and sat back down.

Lance held a little boy on his lap, making funny faces that made the smaller Altean giggle. “They love playing around in the blossoms so get to know the kids pretty quickly.” He explained.

Keith wasn’t sure when it happened, but on of the little girls--he was pretty sure her name was Leelah--with bright pink marks on her cheeks and warm brown eyes started brushing his hair, asking him a million questions. What planet was he from? How long did it take to get here? Why did he have fur on his ears? Was he going to marry their princess? Keith was glad there were so many other conversations going around so the others didn’t noticed him struggle to respond. He glanced over at Lance to be sure the prince wasn’t paying attention.

“Yeah, I’m going to marry Allura.” He answered finally.

“Hmm,” The little girl stopped brushing and looked him in the eyes. “Do you not want to?” She asked, confused as to why someone wouldn’t just adore their princess.

“No, I do...”

“But you don’t look like you love her.” Wow, kids were smarter than he thought.

“Well no, but when you’re prince and princess, you get married because it’s good for other people, not really because you love them.”

“So Princess Allura does not love you?”

Keith shook his head. “I don’t think so.”

“Who do you love?”

“No one right now.”

Leelah searched his face like she was trying to decide if he was telling the truth. “That’s sad.” She finally said.

“It’s better than loving someone but not being able to be with them, isn’t it?”

She nodded slowly then went back to brushing out his bangs. “I guess that’s true. When I get older I want to marry my best friend.”

“You should.” Keith smiled. “Best friends are great.”

“Yeah, I love her and she loves me so I think she wants to marry me too.” Keith must have looked surprised because she stopped again. “What?”

“Wait a tick...what? You’re going to marry a girl?” He asked.

Leelah seemed just as surprised by his question. “Of course. I will marry the one I love, whoever it is.”

“Do I get to go to the wedding?” He asked.

“Yes!” She smiled and finished up just a few more brush strokes. “Prince Keith is ready!” 

Before he could ask just what he was ready for, a little boy bounded over and placed a delicate flower crown on his head, the purple junniberry blossoms settling on his newly brushed hair in just the right way as the boy placed them.

“Perfect.” Leelah assured him.

Keith looked around to see everyone else wore one as well, even Shiro. “Thanks you guys.” He kissed Leelah’s cheek and she giggled, running off with a few of the other kids to restart their game from earlier.

“They really love you guys here, don’t they?” Shiro asked, watching the kids running around.

“I don’t pretend to know how the Galra Empire is run, but you two seemed pretty at home with a bunch of kids around too.” Lance pointed out.

“We used to sneak out a lot and go out to see the people and it seems children are children wherever you go.” Keith shrugged. “They have a million new questions every time you see them and they want to know everything right now.” He smiled at Leelah running around happily with her friends, wondering if her future bride was one of the girls throwing petals into the air with her. 

  
  


For the rest of the day, the Alteans took Keith and Shiro on a tour of their favorite places in Altea. Little shops, parks and cafes, anywhere they could think of. They met the locals who seemed to love them just as much as the children did, though Keith didn’t feel quite as accepted as before. He figured it must have been to do with the fact that he was a halfling, surely that kind of thinking couldn’t be a purely Galra prejudice. He did his best to ignore it, but maybe what his father said years ago was true, maybe since he was only ever half of anything, he’d never fully belong anywhere.

As they walked around, they hadn’t noticed the skies growing darker and darker until they left a small little store on the edge of a beach and Allura happened to glance up. “Oh no... Lance, we’ve got to get back.”

“Get back? What, no we’ve...” his voice trailed off as he looked up as well, seeing the gray clouds swirling above them. “You know what, good idea, we should run.”

Keith didn’t understand what a little bit of rain was going to do to them, but he fell in line just behind Lance and Allura as they ran towards the castle. Alteans around them called each other inside and called out to them to hurry as if they could run any faster.

He nearly collided with Lance when he stopped dead in his tracks, something sizzling falling just in front of him. “New course, this way!” He shouted, turning to the left and hurrying down a little alley to another street. Keith followed him, unsure of where Hunk Pidge or Allura was anymore. Shiro kept up just behind him, his footsteps echoing along with theirs. 

“Lance!” Keith called out. “Why is this rain such a big deal?”

Lance stopped again, sticking out his arm to stop Keith as a rock the size of his fist slammed into the ground in front of them. “Does that answer your question?”

“Sure does.” Keith muttered as they started running again. The rocks were streaming down quicker now, crashing into the ground and buildings around them. Keith knew he’d never make it through without Lance in the lead; it was like he’d gotten caught in these types of storms before. 

Keith was really staring to feel the cold cutting through his thin shirt and he wished he would have grabbed a jacket in his haste to get dressed that morning. He stumbled once, tripped up by a loose cobblestone and nearly fell on his face before sticking his hands out to catch himself. Once he’d gotten to his feet, Lance was gone and a look behind him told him he’d lost Shiro as well. Just as he’d decided to take his chances running to the castle anyways, a hand reached out and grabbed him by the arm, pulling him under a small overhang just as a rock would have hit him.

Lance shook his head. “You were so not going to make that.” 

“I might have...”

“You just tripped over nothing, those rocks were going to plow a hole right through that head of yours. Plus, you’re obviously freezing.” Lance shrugged off his jacket and held it out to him, avoiding his eyes and trying to pretend he wasn’t blushing.

“It’s okay, you must be cold too.” He said, only now realizing he was shaking.

Lance insisted and Keith finally pulled on the jacket, trying not to think to much about the pleasant smell that lingered on it. “I take it Galra don’t handle the cold very well.”

“You think we would with the fur and all, but no, not really.” He folded his arms and leaned against the wall as Lance sat on the floor.

“Well this was bound to happen eventually. At least you weren’t out here on your own.” Lance said once he worried their silence was getting too long. 

“You know being alone together would be so awkward if you didn’t kiss me.” Keith said.

Lance looked up at him like he’d lost his mind. 

“Did you really think I forgot?”

“Do you take pride being the most awkward person in any situation?” Lance mumbled, looking away from him with bright cheeks.

“You’re the one who started it.” Keith crossed his arms. That didn’t go exactly as well as he’d been planning. He figured if they could talk about it, maybe it wouldn’t be weighing so heavily on his shoulders but oh was he wrong.

“You didn’t tell Allura?” Lance finally asked.

Keith slid down the wall, leaving some distance between them and tucking his legs up to keep himself warm. “Of course not.”

“Aren’t married couples supposed to have no secrets between them?”

“Well we’re not married yet.” Keith reminded him.

“Yeah...” The two boys watched the rocks pelting the ground for a little bit, wondering how long the storm was going to last.

Suddenly, Lance started laughing. It was a small chuckle at first, but now it was full on, clutching at his stomach laughter.

Keith looked at him like he was losing his mind. “Is this some kind of side effect of a storm on Altea? Do you all just lose it like this?”

Lance tried to speak, but any time he tried, he just laughed and his train of thought was derailed again. The sound make Keith smile at first and soon he found himself laughing too, not as hard, but a soft sort of sound that made Lance fell like he could say anything right now, anything at all and Keith would just go along with it even if he had no idea what was going on.

Once he finally caught his breath again, Lance wiped his eyes. “Sorry, I was thinking about the first time Hunk and I got caught out in a storm like this. If you can imagine a big guy like him screaming like a little girl, it still wouldn’t be as shocking as it was the first time I heard it.” He smiled and stared out into the clouds above the other row of buildings on the other side of the street.

“Hunk?”

“Oh he’s afraid of  _ everything _ . You should have seen the first time Allura came home with a little pack of Space Mice. I thought an assassin had broken into Hunk’s room but no, just four little mice had fallen asleep on his pillow.” 

“How’d you guys get through the storm the first time?” Keith asked, aware of how cold he was getting. The wind had picked up now and he realized just how underprepared he’d been that morning.

Lance scooted over closer to him and pointed up at one of the clouds. “You see that? A darker part of the cloud?”

“Right in the middle?”

“Yes. That’s where they come from and they are spit out in all directions. Hunk watched one side while I watched the other and we dodged as well as we could. We ran into a bunch of stuff and probably broke some of them, but we made it home. We weren’t so far away though. This storm is getting too crazy now, I bet everyone found cover somewhere.”

“Does it ever break the buildings?” Keith hadn’t noticed it before, but that time he spoke even he could hear a little shakiness to his voice. He’d been hoping to ignore the cold by distracting himself and asking Lance questions, but now the other prince had noticed it too. 

“You’re really getting cold, aren’t you?” He asked.

Keith shrugged just a shiver ran down his spine, making his nonchalance fail miserably. “Maybe a little...”

“Why didn’t you tell me?” Lance demanded, looking around wildly for something to cover him with but coming up empty. “I’m going to find something.”

“No!” He grabbed Lance’s hand as he stood. “You’re going to get hurt, I’ll survive one little storm.”

“Keith, these storms don’t last just a few ticks, they could last most of the day!” 

“You just said this one is getting too crazy!”

“That was before.” 

Lance tried pulling out of Keith’s grip but he wouldn’t let go and stood instead. “If you go out there for me, I should just go with you to help watch.”

In a last ditch effort to get Keith to let go, Lance grabbed his face and kissed his lips, crashing their mouths together similar to last time though neither one was ever going to be able to forget this one and they both knew it. He deepened the kiss until Keith let go of his hand. He really should have pulled away right then and taken off--that was his original plan anyways--but he hesitated. The salty taste of Keith’s wind chapped lips was better than the alcohol stained ones of their last kiss, though he felt he could get just as drunk off of these.

Keith shivered slightly underneath him and Lance remembered what he was supposed to be doing right now. He pulled away from Keith abruptly, running out from under the overhang and searching desperately for something to help block the wind for them. 

“Lance!” He stepped out but had to stumble back to avoid being hit by a falling rock that crashed down just in front of him. “Lance!” The second one was more a growl to himself; the boy had to stop kissing him and running away.

Keith paced under the small shelter, clinging to Lance’s jacket whenever a particularly strong gust of wind came up. He couldn’t see the young prince and even a tick felt like forever while he waited for him to return. He was really staring to worry when he heard a particularly large rock slam into the overhang. How much bigger were these damn rocks going to get exactly?

“Tada!” Lance announced, surprising Keith as he came up behind him. He proudly held up a tarp and Keith punched him in the ribs. “Ow! What was that for?”

“For distracting me and running off again!” Keith grabbed the tarp from his hands and pulled it around him, settling back on the ground.

Lance sat back down next to him, not bothering to keep distance between them. Keith yawned and rested his chin on his knees. “I  guess I’ll have to see the sunset some other time.” 

“It’s worth it, 100%.” Lance assured him. “It’s my favorite part about the castle being so close to the ocean. Allura and I used to always play on that hill. It gave my mother a heart attack the first time we told her we found a cliff’s edge.” He laughed lightly. 

Keith shifted and offered part of the tarp to him to cover up under. “What was your mother like?”

“Like most mothers I assume.” As soon as the words left his mouth, he realized how stupid it was to say that to someone like Keith who didn’t have any memory of his own mother. “Sorry, I didn’t mean--”

“Don’t worry about it. I’ve gotten over the fact that I don’t know my mother. It’s been 17 years, I think if I did have any memory of her it would be worse. But go ahead, I do want to hear about her.”

Lance nodded. “Well, I took after her a lot. She had my same skin and hair color, but she had green eyes. They were so bright that it was like they made their own light. She loved to play silly games with us and her favorite story to tell us at night was about Voltron. Allura got her diplomacy skills from her and Coran, they were always settling us down and getting us to apologize for things like pulling hair or calling each other names. She always told me when I was older, she’d take me around the solar system to meet other people so I could have friends all over but... well she died before we got the chance. Her ship was destroyed when she was coming back from a diplomacy meeting on the other side of the solar system and I still haven’t been off of Altea.” Lance looked longingly at the sky. “My father was really worried after that happened so Allura only goes with him is she absolutely has to and I, well I’m stuck here. Don’t get me wrong, I love Altea and this will always be my home, but I want to go see all the stuff she used to tell us about. Especially if I’m not going to be the one to rule Altea.”

Keith turned his head to look at Lance. “Is that why you love being in the Star Room?”

Lance nodded. “That’s where she used to tell us about other planets and races. Those hologram images are all I know about them.”

They flowed into a little silence as the rocks continued to fall, making a surprisingly calming noise as they started to get a little smaller. “For what it’s worth... I think your mother would be proud of you.” Keith said softly. Lance sort of scoffed. “I’m serious. Allura told us how much of those ideas were yours. I saw you with your people today. You’re a great prince, Lance, I think everyone would believe that.”

“Thanks, Keith.” There was a definite amount of sincerity in his voice that made Keith feel warm inside. Lance gently knocked their shoulders together which Keith returned, letting them remain touching as they waited for the storm to pass. 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I start school again in a few days but I still hope to update as much as possible! Thanks for reading you guys <3


	7. Chapter 7

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> http://vignette4.wikia.nocookie.net/voltronlegendarydefender/images/a/a8/Altea.png/revision/latest/scale-to-width-down/300?cb=20161005020251 this is the picture of Altea I am going off of which is sort of important in this chapter

It was dark before it was finally safe to return to the castle. Keith had fallen asleep against Lance’s shoulder at one point as they talked about the planets Keith had visited and shared the treats Lance had stuffed in his pockets throughout the day. While he slept, body softly rising and falling with his breaths, bangs strewn across his forehead, and ears gently twitching, Lance considered what utter chaos he’d found himself in. He’d kissed the prince who’s supposed to marry his sister  _ again _ , and as he looked at Keith now, he wanted to make it a third time. Yeah, his mother would be  _ very  _ proud of him, sure. 

Once Keith had woken up again, the sun had set and it was only a little longer before the clouds had disappeared and the stars shone against the blanket of night. Lance figured they should get moving again, but seeing those stars reflected in Keith’s galaxy colored eyes made it hard to want anything but him right now. 

Keith caught him staring, but didn’t mention it. He just moved over a little closer to rest his head on Lance’s shoulder once more and marvel at how different the galaxy could look sitting on a new planet. His distantly wondered about the others, but he was certain they’d all made it to safety and were heading back to the castle. Like they should have been doing.

“We should go.” Lance finally said.

“Probably.” Keith agreed.

“I don’t really want to though.” 

“Me either.” He agreed. 

They waited a little longer before they started to hear other Alteans stirring in their homes, ready to clean up after the storm. Lance figured he should return the tarp and Keith had to admit they’d wasted enough time. It was just going to be hard again tomorrow to concentrate for another meeting. 

“Are you going to be there tomorrow?” Keith asked as they started on their way back to the castle.

“Wouldn’t I be a little too distracting to you?” He asked with a cocky grin.

“You’re the one who was staring earlier.” Keith retorted, pleased at the blush he caused. 

“Yeah, I’ll be there. Allura said she wants me there.” 

“I can tell she trusts you a lot.” 

“She mentioned me being her advisor one day.” Lance admitted. _ Why was Keith so easy to talk to? _

“I think you’d be a fantastic advisor.” 

Lance smiled. “Thanks.” He wanted to say something like he thought Keith was going to be a great king one day, but he figured that would sort of ruin their mood. 

“Hey Lance?”

“Yeah?”

“I think my hands are getting a little cold again.” Keith said, sticking one of them out.

Lance blushed a little. He was used to being the one who came up with lines like that, but it seemed he’d met a worthy opponent. He took Keith’s hand in his and they made their way to the Castle of Lions, talking about anything that came to mind. 

Once they got close enough, Keith loosened his grip, his heart fluttering at the little squeeze Lance gave him before letting go. “Race ya!” Lance yelled, bursting into a sprint towards the main doors.

“Hey!” Keith ran after him, struggling to laugh and catch his breath at the same time. 

They both reached the doors at nearly the same instant, both claiming they’d still won as the doors swung open from their impact. Shiro patted Keith up and down looking for injuries and held is not robot hand up to his forehead to check if he was feeling okay. Hunk gave Lance a hug so big, he nearly knocked the prince off his feet. 

“We were staring to get worried!” Allura cried, clearly relieved they were okay.

“What happened to you guys?” Pidge asked, adjusting their glasses like they knew the answer the two boys gave wasn’t going to be the whole truth.

Keith took a step back from Shiro’s worried poking and prodding. “Lance was leading us away and said turn so I turned and then we found an overhang--”

“Wait wait Keith, you missed the best part!” Lance put his arm around the other. “Keith here nearly fell and ate it while we were running.”

“Thanks, Lance, they really needed to know that.” Keith said, blushing a light lavender. “Anyways, we made it to the overhang and just waited it out.”

“For future reference, Galra get cold apparently very easily.”

“Is that why he’s wearing your jacket?” Pidge asked.

Keith looked down to see he was indeed still wearing Lance’s jacket. Shiro, sensing something was about to come crashing down around them, swooped in and saved the day which Keith was definitely going to have to thank him for later. 

“Thank you so much Lance.” He said. “I got worried once the wind picked up more.”

“We even stole a tarp.” Lance assured him.

Allura looked appalled. “Lance!”

“We gave it back!” 

“So we  _ borrowed  _ a tarp.” Keith corrected, sliding out of Lance’s jacket and handing it back. “Where did you guys get to? I thought you were right behind me, Shiro!” 

“I was after you and Lance turned down that alley but I lost track of you guys just after so I went back to find the others and one of the Alteans pulled me inside. One of the kids from this morning saw my arm and recognized me.” Shiro explained.

“The kids love that arm.” Hunk agreed. “The three of us just found places to hide like you did.”

“Well, not to put a halt to the excitement of today, but I am exhausted, so I’ll be going to bed now.” Keith said following a yawn.

“Ditto, I am lights out.” Lance agreed.

“You two are insane.” Hunk shook his head. “Worrying this much made me hungry so I’m getting a snack.”

“I’m following the tall one.” Pidge agreed, walking with Hunk towards the kitchen.

Shiro and Allura looked at each other as they realized they were alone now. “Too bad we didn’t get to see that sunset.” He said, not giving the silence a change to become awkward. 

“Maybe some other time.” Allura said with a small smile. “I’ll see you tomorrow, Shiro.”

“Good night, Princess.” He answered as she walked away.

With the end of their week drawing closer, Lance and Keith spent every spare minute they had together; sometimes with the others to seem inconspicuous--though Shiro and Pidge figured it out the first time they saw the two glancing at each other a million time from the corner of their eyes--but most of the time sneaking away because Lance just  _ had  _ to show him something “really quick, promise!” and the two would scamper off. During the meetings they attended, the two seemed to focus pretty well though, each getting impressed with the other more and more everyday. Before they knew it, the week had passed and Shiro woke Keith early to say their Galra advisors would be arriving within minutes. 

“No way, they’re not coming until tomorrow.” He mumbled sleepily. 

“Keith, it’s been a week.”

“No it’s...Oh my god, it’s been a week!” Keith jumped out of bed, nearly bring down Shiro in his haste, and hurried to get dressed. “How did I lose track of time?”

“Because you were distracted.”

“Obviously.”

“By Lance.”

“We’re not doing this right now.” 

“You two are going to have to talk about this sometime, Keith.”

“Not right now, Shiro!”

“Fine, fine, I’ll let you get dressed, but if anyone finds out, all of this--”

“I got it!” 

Shiro put his hands up and left Keith to get ready. He pretended not to notice the glances during meetings, but when Lance always had something new to show Keith, something that he just  _ had  _ to see and only Lance could show him, well Shiro thought they were getting a little reckless. Still, he hadn’t been able to bring himself to say anything because it had been so long since he’d seen Keith so happy. Racing and friendly competition between the two seemed to bring out the best in both of them, they had more to talk about and ideas for their alliance seemed to pour from their minds.

Keith and Shiro hurried to meet King Alfor and Allura in the front of the Castle of Lions, luckily making it before the Galra ship was even in sight. Not surprisingly, Lance came up after them, Hunk insisting he’d tried his hardest to get the prince out of bed. Just like when Keith had arrived, King Alfor and Allura stood in front to greet them. Coran came up just before the Galra ship touched down and walked with Keith and Shiro to meet them. 

“Do you think this is going to go as well as he’s hoping?” Allura asked.

“He knows his people well.” King Alfor said.

“That’s not what I asked.”

“If they’re like him, it should be no problem!”

Keith felt a wave of confusion wash over him as the doors opened to reveal the Galra representatives. “Commander Prorok? And General Thace?” He whispered loudly to Shiro.

“They’re some of the last people I ever expected to show up here. Why would my father send them?”

Shiro had no answer to give him. Coran graciously welcomed them to Altea and Keith and Shiro assured them everything was going according to schedule and they should be done with negotiations within the next week or so.

“Let us hope so.” Commander Prorok said sternly. Just as Keith had left him it would seem.

They lead the Galra representatives back to the castle and introduced everyone at the front gate then went inside to begin their first meeting. 

Which went suspiciously smooth. 

The Galra were silent when the Alteans went over their plan, giving Keith little nods whenever Allura made a point to say an idea was his. Keith watched them all carefully, sure that someone was going to get tripped up on some detail that would require him to step in but it never happened. Shiro stayed alert as well, watching for any sign between them as to a secret message or code he could ask Pidge about later. They’d found out that Pidge loved to hide away inside the walls to listen or watch their meetings so as to help Allura later on with anything they came up with for future meetings. 

Not a single thing was at all out of the ordinary which in itself was out of the ordinary. Pidge confirmed there was never a moment that they were suspicious of a secret plan; they hadn’t even considered it until Keith and Shiro expressed their concerns. 

“Why are you so worried?” Hunk asked. “They’re your people, you’ve been arguing for them this whole time, haven’t you?”

“Yes, but I’ve never done anything in my whole life that they’ve agreed 100% to!” Keith paced around the Star Room. “This is weird. My father would never agree to those two showing up to deal with this. Thace is an outspoken supporter of changing out the regime--”

“Wait wait, hold on, your planet is on the verge of a civil war and you didn’t think that was important to mention?” Allura demanded.

“No!” Keith sighed and shut his eyes. “No, he is part of only a very small band of people who want to institute a parliament of the people. He doesn’t have any high enough supporters and they have no reason explicitly to do so and he knows it. My father keeps him around to keep an eye on him, not because he trusts him. That’s why this is so weird. He should  _ not  _ be here.”

“Emperor Zarkon isn’t one to agree with everything either. He would pick at something just to get more and we knew it.” Shiro added. 

“Sounds fun.” Lance muttered.

“Now you know why I was so ready to get out of there a week early.” Keith agreed, plopping back down on the ground next to him, running a hand through his hair. “I don’t know what he wants and usually he’s transparent about them.”

No one had any way to console him or rest his fears. Instead, Lance stood and set up the hologram universe again. “We need to get out for a little bit. Someone pick a planet.”

“Arus!” 

“Kerberos!” 

Hunk and Pidge looked at each other, stuck in a stand still.

“I’ll race you for it.” Pidge said, jumping to their feet.

“You’re on!” Hunk scrambled after them as Pidge ran out the door. “First to the kitchen wins!”

“He never wins that game.” Allura shook her head with a small smile. “Pidge has more tunnels through the castle than any of us know about.”

Keith smiled a little. “Why couldn’t that week have lasted just a little longer?” He asked wistfully.

The three of them looked at him, Shiro and Allura in sadness and Lance in utter heartbreak. The past week with Keith had been some of the best times of his life and it was just setting in that this was it. The end had come for them now that the Galra were here. In no time, they would be done not yelling at each other and Keith would have to get married. To his sister. What a twisted world he’d found himself in. 

  
  


Lance pulled Keith’s hand to let him know it was time to get off the platform. He’d been blindfolded since they’d gotten on a little space craft that left the Castle so the Galra had no idea where he was. He'd finally gotten everything into place and just in time too; the next day all they needed to do was sign the alliance and the next day Keith could be getting married...

“Lance, if you’re leading me off a building, I’m going to start rethinking some things.” Keith said, clinging to Lance’s hand to guide him. There was a little whir of machinery around him but that didn’t tell him too much. “For the record, I hate surprise parties.”

“Oh come on, everyone likes surprise parties.” 

“Lance, please tell me--”

“Shush, it’s not a surprise party.” Lance assured him.

He lead Keith into just the right spot, making sure his face was pointed the right way for maximum impact. Slowly, he untied the blindfold and Keith blinked quickly a few times to adjust his eyes. They stood in front of a window that stretched out at least 30 feet wide and reached from the floor to the ceiling. Outside, the solar system and the rest of the universe spread out in front of them impossibly far. 

“I was wrong.” He said softly.

“What?”

“This is the most amazing thing I’ve ever seen.” Keith said, taking Lance’s hand in his. “Where are we?”

“Altea’s rings. In times of peril, they can form two layers of a forcefield and when we’re not all about to die, well I like to just come up here to look at the stars.” Lance said dreamily. He pulled Keith away from the window up against the opposite wall to sit against, never letting go of his hand. 

He explained all he knew about the Altean rings, how they were constructed after Voltron disappeared because they feared the Drule empire’s return if they found Voltron was gone, how they became rest stations for traveling ships after years of no attacks. He told Keith everything he knew, eventually dropping into stories about how his mother used to tell him of all the aliens she’d met whenever she came to visit. Keith rest his head on Lance’s shoulder, watching the stars and planets outside, sometimes catching glances of them sparkling in Lance’s eyes as he spoke. 

Eventually, the two drew quite, the only sound between them a gentle hum of their breaths and the quiet pulse of machines. Keith had no idea what time it was, but he didn’t quite care. He should be meeting with the advisors some time today, but there was only so much time he had left with Lance.

“I want to leave, Keith.” Lance said softly.

Keith’s head shot up. “What? What are you talking about?”

“I want to leave Altea.” He said. “And I want you to come with me.”

He was certain his entire face was flushed with purple, but Lance’s eyes never left his. “Lance...”

“Please.” He said, squeezing Keith’s hand. “You said it yourself, they all seem to agree and that never happens! Maybe they could agree to a friendly alliance, not a marriage. You and me, we could leave Altea. We could travel around the whole universe, this ring is the farthest I’ve ever gone from Altea’s surface. I know it's only been a few weeks but I’ve never wanted to leave more than I have being with you in just the past few days.”

Keith couldn't imagine words good enough to express his feelings so rather than speak, he decided to kiss him. It was like he couldn't kiss him enough, even as he slid his hands in Lance's short hair to pull him closer or slid onto his lap to virtually erase the space between them.

Once they finally broke away to catch their breath, Lance smiled and touched his forehead to Keith's. “Was that a yes?”

Keith pecked his lips again. “Yes.”

“Really?”

“Yes!” Keith laughed a little. “I have been to dozens of planets and not a single one has ever felt right. Let's find the perfect planet.”

Lance smiled though the next kiss they shared, hardly able to keep himself from spontaneously combusting out of pure happiness. Keith mumbled something about needed to get back, but he didn't seem so keen as Lance bit lightly at his bottom lip.

“Lance,” he pleaded. “They need to talk to me.”

“Not anymore, you're not going to be here tomorrow.” Lance kissed at the corner of his mouth.

“I have to be sure I leave them in good hands.”

The Altean prince sighed in defeat. “I suppose you're right.”

Keith kissed him once more, a soft chaste peck like a promise of more to come, and untangled himself from the other. “Meet you here tomorrow? First thing in the morning.”

“I'll be waiting.” Lance said. “I may even sleep here.”

Keith laughed a little and clicked the button for the ship’s platform. “Are you not coming?”

“No, I’m going to watch the view for a minute, then I’ll pack up.”

Keith nodded. “See you tomorrow.”

“See you tomorrow.”

The doors closed behind the Galra prince and his ship descended back towards Altea’s surface. Lance looked back out at the stars around him. In mere hours, it would just be him, Keith and those stars for as far as the two could travel.

“Lance.” He jumped at his name, not sure how much time had passed. Probably just a few ticks, but it felt like long, blissful hours of daydreaming. He turned to see Alfor walking up to him.

“Oh, hi, I was umm--”

“Don’t lie to me, Lance.” Alfor held up his hand. “I’m too old to pretend I believe them.” He sighed as Lance bit his lip. “You understand why I can’t let you go tomorrow, right?”

Lance scrambled to his feet. “But Dad!”

“Lance.” Alfor raised his hand and silenced his son. “I can’t allow all of this work to unravel. Do you truly believe that those Galra would agree to this without the prospect of a marriage?”

“Well..”

“Not to mention the fact that you’ve been lying to us all. The people, me, even your sister.” That part hurt. He tried to think about Allura as little as possible throughout this whole endeavor which just made him feel guiltier. “That boy has made a liar out of you.”

“This was not Keith’s fault!” Lance insisted. “This whole thing was my idea! Everything about this was my idea, don’t bring him into this!”

“Lance, I’m sorry you feel you’ve been cooped up here on Altea.” Alfor said with very little traces of sympathy in his voice. “You will be leaving tomorrow, but it will be on your own.”

“You can’t do that!” Lance cried.

“I can. You can visit whatever planets you want other than Altea until you can be trusted to behave responsibly. This is final, Lance. I will have to tell your sister that you won’t be attending her wedding now, but this is for the best of everyone. I think with some distance, both you and the Galra Prince will be able to get over this issue.” He poked a few buttons on the wall beside him and Lance was encased in glass, separating him from any spaceships or exits. 

He pounded on the glass, knowing it was utterly hopeless but he had nothing else to do. “Don’t do this!” He screamed as Alfor turned and walked away. “Don’t walk away from me, come back here! Let me out!”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> DUN DUN DUUUUUUUUUN


	8. Chapter 8

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> “Do you have any of these inside our rooms?” Shiro asked, glancing around the room.
> 
> “No, Hunk told me that would be rude.”
> 
> “Because it would be.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I AM SO SORRY I WAS BUSY TODAY
> 
> And you're not getting your happy ending yet loves, sorry but next time I promise!

Keith woke early the next morning, not having had much sleep in the first place, but he was too excited to be tired. He’d gone looking for Lance after his meeting, but when he couldn’t find him, figured he was packing up and he should probably be doing the same. He wasn’t sure how much of everything he’d be able to get away with inconspicuously so he’d only packed one bag with clothes and money, hoping Lance was more prepared.

Now, it felt real. Keith was doing something directly against his father, something he wanted more than anything in the universe and it had just taken a brave Altean boy to help him out.

Someone knocked lightly on the door just as Keith had finished getting his shirt on. “Keith?” Shiro called softly.

He opened the door. “What are you doing up this early?”

“I’m always up this early.” Shiro glanced at a fully clothed Keith. “What are  _ you  _ doing up this early?”

“Doesn’t matter, what’s up?”

He handed over a piece of paper folded a few times with his name on the top. “This was pushed under the door.”

Keith took it, a weird feeling settling in his stomach. He walked back over to his bed and sat on the edge, leaving Shiro in the doorway. After waiting a minute, he entered the room to be sure Keith was okay, which it soon became clear he wasn’t.

“No, no, no way!” He said, standing quickly. 

“What, what’s going on?” Shiro reached for the note, but Keith crushed it in his grip. “I need to find Lance.”

“Umm, okay, but you couldn’t find him at all yesterday.” Shiro reminded him.

Keith glanced up out the window, towards Altea’s rings. “I might have an idea.” As he spoke, a small ship pulled away from the station attached to it. “No! Shiro, I need Allura, or Hunk or somebody!”

“Keith, what’s going on?”

“Shiro!”

“Okay!”

He followed Keith from the room as the prince tore out the door and down the hall. They went to Lance’s room first but found Hunk inside instead. 

“Have you two seen Lance?” Hunk asked worriedly.

“I think that’s what we’re here to ask you.” Shiro said.

“Look at this, does this look like his handwriting?” Keith showed him the side of his note which only said his name.

Hunk looked at it. “Yeah, I mean it’s only a few letters but the ‘i’ especially--wait what’s wrong?” He asked as Keith ran from the room again. 

He pounded on Allura’s door until she opened the door, stifling a yawn as she did. “Keith? What’s wrong?”

“Is this Lance’s handwriting?” He showed Allura the same note.

She blinked. “Yeah, I mean it looks like it.”

Hunk and Shiro caught up to him just as he crushed the note into his pocket. “That can’t have been him.”

“What? Did you see him?” Hunk asked. “He never came back last night, Alfor figured he’d sneak in really late like he does sometimes but he never did.”

“Can I get up to those rings up there by myself?” Keith asked.

Hunk shook his head. “No, you’re need an Altean to open all the doors for you.”

“Can you come with me?” His eyes were wild with desperation and Hunk was a little scared by it.

“Are you okay?” He asked.

“Keith, maybe you need--”

“I need to find Lance, you don’t understand!” He made an odd face before seemingly falling asleep and falling backwards. 

“Pidge taught you that right?” Hunk asked Allura who’d caught him. 

She nodded. “He was starting to sort of freak me out. It’s a little too early for this. Help me get him inside?”

Shiro picked him up and laid him down in Allura’s room as she went to change quickly. He managed to avoid taking the note out of Keith’s pocket and reading through it to see what had set him off; if Keith wanted him to read it, he would have let him earlier obviously it was something between the two of them. Pidge made their way inside, their hair an utter mess a mark across their cheek like they’d fallen asleep against a piece of machinery.

“Was that Keith making all that noise?” They mumbled. “Oh look, it worked.”

“Yeah, that was him.” Shiro nodded, clearly at a loss for what to do now.

“Now,” Allura said as she entered the room again. “What is this all about? Something about Lance I’m guessing from the note.” 

The boys both shrugged. “He read the note and went into a frenzy.” Shiro explained.

“I just got here.” Pidge confirmed.

“And no one’s seen Lance?”

“Not since yesterday.” Hunk said.

Keith stirred on the couch, rubbing a spot on his neck where Allura had his a pressure point. “Wait a tick, before you freak out again, can you please explain what is going on with you?” Allura asked.

“I... I mean, it’s a long story and I think you’re going to get pretty mad at the two of us...”

“You mean about the two of you running off and doing whatever when you think no one’s around?” Allura asked with a little smile. 

“How did you--”

“You think you two could out smart Pidge? Pidge knew from the time you two got stuck in that storm and the rest of us could see it happening.”

Pidge gave their signature salute and Keith looked utterly mindblown. “You never told your father?”

“Of course not. But we’ve been trying to find another alternative for our arrangement.” She said gesturing between the two of them. 

“We didn’t want to tell you two until we’d figured something out.” Pidge elaborated.

“Well that cuts down the need to know quite a bit.” Keith agreed. “The last place I saw him was on one of those rings, but a ship just left there.”

Allura seemed to understand his concern. “We’ll find out. Come on, we can get up there before most of the crew if we hurry.”

Following Allura, the five of them made their way to the little space pods that the Alteans used to get up to the stations on Altea’s rings. Pidge poked a few spots on Rover then set him loose before riding up with them, saying the little robot was going to do some “ground work” while they were searching for him.

The team of them didn’t have far to go before finding one of the overnight crew members who had a message left by Lance. “He handed it to me and said you would all be coming to look for him soon enough.” 

“He didn’t say anything else?” Allura asked.

“No, just to give it to you if you came looking for him. He got onto one of those ships and took off, first time I’ve ever seen him leave the planet, but I’m new here.” 

He handed a little piece of metal to Pidge who unlocked the message. A hologram image of Lance appeared above their hands and everyone gathered around to see what he said.

“Hey guys, I’m going to assume you're all here together so that will make things easier. Keith, I left you the note but I guess you didn’t believe me... I’m sorry. I really am, but... I needed to leave. And you have so much responsibility here, I just know you’d resent me later, I couldn’t bear that.” The hologram said, breaking Keith’s heart with every word. “You two need to protect all of those people, I can’t be the reason two planets get into a war together. I’ll miss you all so much but I have to do this. I was just getting in the way now. I know you saw the ship leave, and yes, that was me, Keith. I know you saw it. I’ll come home one day, I promise but... you two do what you need to do okay? Hunk, make sure nobody touches my stuff. All of you be good while I’m gone, don’t do anything I wouldn’t do.” He smiled sadly and gave a small wave before shutting the message off.

They looked at Keith who was still staring at the space where Lance had just been. He opened his mouth like he was going to say something but couldn’t fit his thoughts into words. 

“Keith, I--”

“I don’t buy it.” Pidge narrowed their eyes. “I need to get to Rover.” They tucked the message in their pocket and they went back to the castle. Keith was silent the whole way back, his brain running through a million ways this could have been wrong. Lance couldn’t have just left, he knew Lance better than that... didn’t he? 

There was a voice in the back of his mind that kept saying Pidge was the only one who seemed to think the same way as him. Allura and Hunk, the two who knew Lance the longest and presumably the best kept looking at him like if they spoke their minds, Keith would shatter before their eyes. 

It was a silent trip back and Pidge ran off as soon as they touched back to the ground. Keith seemed in a daze as the other three headed to his and Shiro’s shared room. Allura left at one point to talk to her father and Hunk once to bring back food, but he didn’t budge until Pidge reappeared. 

“I’ve got footage.” Pidge said, brushing past Hunk and sitting between Keith and Shiro on the floor.

On a little laptop, they pulled up a number of live videos from many places around the Castle of Lions. “Is that in the kitchen?”

“Yes, Hunk, not the time.” They batted away Hunk’s hand and their fingers flew over the keyboard, pulling up a few different camera views until one came up showing just outside the room they sat in now.

“Do you have any of these inside our rooms?” Shiro asked, glancing around the room.

“No, Hunk told me that would be rude.”

“Because it would be!”

I’m working here, stop distracting me!” Pidge said, searching through hours of footage, seeing a speed up, backwards version of some Alteans walking past, a little boy running through the halls and Keith and Shiro running around this morning. As everyone watched, Lance came and went, pausing to drop a note and slide it under the door. Pidge stopped the video, trying to come up with something else--anything they could think of that was plausible--to save this before it fell apart.

Allura, Hunk, Shiro and Pidge swung their heads around as Keith’s door slammed shut, none of them having heard him get up and cross the room until he was already gone. In the brightly lit room--he couldn’t tell exactly how long they’d been at this but it seemed the day was only half over--he fell onto his bed. The bag he’d packed fell to the ground and scattered his money across the ground which just ricocheted around in his head like a taunt to how happy he’d been only hours before.

There was a soft knock and Keith just turned over, hearing the crinkle of Lance’s note in his pocket. He took it out, knowing he was just asking to further break his heart into pieces but still finding some comfort knowing they were words just shared between the two of them.

 

_ Keith, _

_ I know what you’re going to think and I want to tell you now that _

_ this was not your fault. I’m leaving as soon as I can but I’m sure you’ll  _

_ see the ship leave. I’m a little behind so I’m sorry that this won’t be as  _

_ painless as I’d hoped.  _

_ I meant everything I said yesterday, you gave me the strength to do this _

_ and I will never forget you, but I hope you can forget me. I want you and _

_ Allura to rule these two planets because I think you’re going to be great  _

_ at it.  _

_ I  _ _ know  _ _ it. _

 

_ Goodbye, _

_ Lance _

 

The letters swam off the page as he shut his eyes, fighting back tears that gathered in his eyes. There was something wrong here, something was off, Lance was going to jump through the window and whisk him away just like he planned.

But Lance never came. The shadows of his windows traveled around the room as he stared off into space, replaying the first time they’d kissed and every moment they’d spent after it. At one point, he might have started yelling, cursing everything that made up the Altean prince from his soft brown locks and his ocean blue eyes to the sound of his laugh and how he said Keith’s name. He couldn’t be sure that part had happened outside of his mind though because afterwards, he laid back down on the bed and the day just seemed to blend together.

When he was younger, Keith had been told that on some planets, storms were named after people, especially the ones with casualties. He remembered being confused by that at first, but now he understood. Keith’s whole life had been turned upside down by a storm named Lance and there had definitely been casualties.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Tbh, I really really love that last part


	9. Chapter 9

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> “How do you sleep in here?” He asked, looking around at nearly every level surface covered in some sort of robotic part or half finished invention.
> 
> Pidge laughed like Hunk had made an amusing joke.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Ahhhhhhh cursed school!

Once Keith had disappeared, the others eventually left too. Shiro stayed in their shared room in case Keith came out but Pidge was actually the first to enter the room.

“I’ve got it!” They screamed as they pushed through the door. “I knew it couldn’t be true!” 

After getting over his initial shock, Shiro sat Pidge down on the couch before they could barge into Keith’s room. “What are you talking about?”

“Lance! I found a way to prove that wasn’t him!” 

Shiro looked cautious. “Are you certain?”

“100%, I double checked Rover’s data and I made sure everything lined up time wise. Lance was on the Ring Station when he should have been putting that note under the door. He was up there until the ship launched. So yes, he did leave, but I have compelling evidence it wasn’t of his own will.”

Keith’s door opened slowly. “Show me.” 

Pidge brought the laptop over to him and showed side by side videos of Lance attacking his glass cage but also putting the note under the door. “You see? The time stamps are the same! One of them just isn’t Lance.”

“Who else could it be?” Shiro asked.

“Who cares?” Keith smiled and it was like life had been breathed into him again. “I knew he wouldn’t just leave like that.”

“We have to tell Allura.” Pidge said, shutting the laptop.

“And Hunk.”

Shiro nearly smiled seeing Keith bounce back so quickly. “We’re going to need the whole team on board to figure out a plan.”

“I’ve already started on one.” Pidge said as they left.

The three of them gathered Allura and Hunk in the Star Room and Pidge replayed the evidence, proving Lance couldn’t have been there. 

“Now we have to figure out why no one found him up there.” Allura said, looking at her brother trying desperately to cry out for help.

“I thought about that too, Rover is trying to help me find that crew member but no one seems to know who it was.” Pidge sighed, shutting the laptop. “What I could really use now is a giant satellite so that I could pinpoint Lance’s location. If we find his ship, maybe I can mess with the signals and turn it around.”

“What about this guy. If we find him, we can make him tell us where Lance is headed. He could but just floating around up there while we all lose our heads down here.” Keith pointed out.

“I tried looking through the cameras I have installed but my range is weak. I can do that if you make it look like we believe it. You two--” they pointed to Allura and Keith “--need to act like this marriage is going to happen tomorrow.”

“We have to tell King Alfor that Lance is missing.” Shiro insisted.

“We can’t.” Allura said sadly. “He’ll never let us be bait if we do. No one outside this room can know what’s going on. Lance’s life could be at stake as well as ours.”

They all agreed. Pidge would get into the computer on the Altean Ring Station, Hunk and Shiro would go down to the village to see if any of the Alteans knew what was going on and Allura and Keith had to plan a wedding for tomorrow morning. 

“Okay, so we’re going to go ahead with this wedding as a hoax, I get that, but what are we supposed to do about this guy if he’s there. I’m putting my money down on shapeshifting right now, which is like all Alteans so we’re never going to find him.” Hunk pointed out.

“What if we plan for the wedding early and find ways to postpone. We accidentally break something, people show up late, I get lost somewhere.” Keith suggested.

“That way whoever reacts oddly will be the one we’re looking for.” Shiro agreed.

“The only problem we run into then is are they reacting because they’re the one we’re looking for or because they’re just surprised because we’re delaying a wedding.” Keith sighed, running a hand through his hair. “This is so confusing. If Lance were here we’d at least have another person to help look out.”

“If Lance was here, you two wouldn’t be here.” Shiro said, his voice revealing his hurt feelings. Keith had been willing to up and leave without tell him and he’d been more worried about finding Lance at first but now the thought had really set in.

Keith looked at him sadly and looked like he was about to say something but Pidge cut him off. “Well we have to work with who and what we have. I’m going to head up there, Hunk I changed my mind, I need you to help the rewiring process. Shiro can you handle the village on your own?”

“Sure. We’ll meet back here in a few hours.”

“Wait!” Hunk said, sticking out his hands to stop them. “We’re going to need a way to know we’re not the shapeshifter.” 

“Good point.” Allura agreed.

“I’ve got it.” Hunk snapped his fingers. “A secret handshake.”

“How about a code word instead.” Allura suggested.

“Voltron.” Pidge said. “Cuz we’re 5 standing up for an Altean prince.”

“Sounds perfect to me.” Shiro agreed.

“I call yellow!” Hunk shouted.

“There were colors?” Keith asked.

“Yes, not important right now, let’s get moving before we run out of time.” Allura said, ushering them out of the Star Room. 

  
  


“I’m just saying, a handshake would have been pretty cool.” Hunk repeated.

Pidge rolled their eyes. “Hunk, focus. Attach the end of the red wire to the beginning of the yellow wire.”

“Lance would have done it with me.” He muttered, connecting the wires. “I got it, what now?”

“There should be a button below the control pad.”

“There’s four.”

“What, no, that’s completely excessive!”

“Yeah well it may have been a while since I started counting, but I’m sure the numbers haven’t changed so there’s still four.”

Pidge groaned. “If we hit the wrong one, it could short circuit the whole station!”

“Then I hope it’s this one.” Hunk said, hitting the button on the far left.

Pidge’s screen turned black. “Hunk...”

“Was that not it?”

The screen flared back to life, a video feed coming through the wires connecting it to the main computer. “You did it! How did you know?”

“I guessed.” Hunk smiled and sat down next to Pidge, watching them scroll through a day’s worth of video backwards including their trip up earlier. “Wait, what about that crew member. If we find where he left or came in we could maybe find him again.”

The pictures flew by until Pidge stopped them. “I missed it.” They played it in normal speed, watching King Alfor coming up in one of the pods and walking down the hall where Pidge followed the cameras to where Lance was sitting watching the stars. There was no audio, but it was easy to tell there was an argument as Lance was encased in glass.

“No way! King Alfor sent his own sun rocketing into space?” Hunk asked in disbelief.

“Hunk, you’re the one who said this was a shapeshifter, remember? I don’t think that’s really the king.” Pidge said, trying to dispel their own doubts. 

“Right, right. Well it’s someone who can copy people perfectly, that takes an insane amount of time and energy, I don’t even think I could match Lance or King Alfor that perfectly.”

“And if they can do so many different people, who knows if they really look like that crew guy we met earlier or if that was just another hoax. Literally anyone could be this person and we wouldn’t know.” Pidge said.

“That means Allura and Keith could be with him right now disguised as King Alfor.” Hunk said. “We have to go tell them they can copy anyone, especially like this. Allura can’t be tricked into revealing anything. And then there’s Shiro all alone looking for this guy!”

“I’ll get a message to Allura and Keith, let’s go find Shiro.” Pidge said, shutting everything down. They sent out a message from the laptop as they returned to the planet’s surface then ran into the village to find their friend. 

“Shiro!” Hunk called out once he spotted him,  beckoning him over to them.

“Wait, Hunk it may not be him.” Pidge reminded him.

He dropped his voice. “You think they can copy the arm?”

“Who knows.” Pidge whispered as Shiro got closer.

“What’d you guys find?” Shiro asked.

Hunk squinted his eyes. “Code word?”

“Voltron. You want to be the yellow lion. Is it that bad?”

Pidge nodded. “Shapeshifting beyond normal Altean abilities. They were Lance and King Alfor and I’m guessing the crew member too.” 

Shiro sighed. “Then I guess I’ve been wasting the past hour or so. What now?”

“I sent a message to Allura and Keith not to be alone with anyone but each other but we should get back there so I can give the rest of you a body camera and messenger bracelet like I gave her. That way we can keep in touch and I can watch for anyone suspicious.”

“What would we do without you?” Shiro said with a smile. 

The three of them headed back to the castle to see Keith and Allura were still in a wedding planning meeting with the Altean nobles and Galra advisors. Pidge lead them back to their room which not even Hunk had seen the inside of until now.

“How do you sleep in here?” He asked, looking around at nearly every level surface covered in some sort of robotic part or half finished invention.

Pidge laughed like Hunk had made an amusing joke. He reach out to poke at something on a chair and they swatted his hand away. “Don’t touch, not all of this is stable.”

Shiro glanced around nervously. Maybe that was why they didn’t sleep in here. Pidge handed them each a bracelet and displayed their own.

“You can either talk into it or if you press this button--” they tapped the side and a hologram keyboard popped up “--you can type it out. That button with glow a little if there’s a message and you just tap it to see or hear so make sure you’re alone. It will go to all the bracelets and they aren’t perfect yet so they’ll only work when they’re close enough to the castle to use the network I’ve set up here.”

“Does the king know about that?” Hunk asked.

“He never asked. Right now all we need to do is get this one to Keith and we’ll all have one.” Pidge handed it to Shiro. “You can get it to him easier than we can.” 

Shiro nodded. “Alright, what do we do after the meeting? If I show up it would be weird for me to get there only to leave so I should stay.”

“That’s a good idea. After you’re done, meet us in the Star Room again.” Pidge said.

They split up, Hunk and Pidge headed to the Star Room to try and track down Lance and Shiro to the Great Hall. He made his way inside, apologizing for interrupting and stood next to Keith. He handed the bracelet to him as discretely as possible and he slid it on, not sure what it was but it looked like something Pidge had done so he decided to just go with it.

The meeting was nearly finished by then so Shiro didn’t have long to wait. From what he could see, everyone seemed to believe they were fully prepared to get married tomorrow, including the king. He couldn’t help but watch him closely even though he was fairly certain the imposter wouldn’t been playing him so publicly.

He pulled the two away as soon as the meeting ended, hurrying to meet Pidge and Hunk who had the first real good news they’d gotten all day.

“We found him!” Hunk said as soon as the door opened.

“Aren’t you supposed to make us say Voltron?” Allura asked.

“Clearly you knew about it.” Pidge said.

“Nevermind that show me!”

“I’m just saying that sort of defeats the whole secret code thing.” Shiro agreed.

Pidge showed Keith a the sweep they’d been doing and the little light that indicated Lance’s ship. “I figured he would have to be on this side of the planet because of the rotation of the planet and the rings so they would have sent him straight out but we’ve been turning so I narrowed it down a lot in the entry here but it only gets wider so I was a little nervous but then Hunk mentioned they’d probably have waited so long not because they wanted you to see it but because there would be a more unobstructed path so then I--”

“Pidge you need to breathe!” Allura put her hand over the other’s mouth. “You’re turning red and ranting.”

Pidge nodded and took a deep breath only to get right back into the same rhythm as before. “They needed an open path to eject him out so he wouldn’t land soon enough to turn around and get back here like Hunk was saying so I took  that into consideration for the time and the other planetary orbits and I narrowed our search even more and the best part was that all that wiring I’d done before totally turned this castle into a giant satellite and the radar found him!”

“You’re amazing, Pidge!” Keith said, giving them a hug. It surprised nearly everyone in the room as Keith wasn’t much for hugs but it was even more insane when Pidge returned it. 

“Hunk is working on disabling the autopilot now and sending new information to the ship to bring it back to Altea.”

“Correction, Hunk  _ has  _ disabled the autopilot and rerouted the ship to Altea.” Hunk announced proudly. That earned him a hug from Keith too, one he was more than happy to reciprocate. 

Allura pulled up the hologram stars and plotted his course. “He should be here a little after midday tomorrow.”

“We’ve planned the wedding for the morning so we have to postpone with everything we’ve got.” Keith said, looking at the little icon that represented the Altean prince.

Allura nodded. “We’ve got some sabotaging to do tonight.”


	10. Chapter 10

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Shiro saw in Allura’s smile what Keith saw in Lance’s.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Pretty sure this one's a little shorter than normal... sorry about that!

Pidge and Hunk watched the screen carefully, waiting for indication that Lance’s ship had entered the atmosphere. Allura ran past the door, giving it a little knock to indicate it was her and that she was running out of ideas for which to stall. So far, she’s “accidentally knocked over” a large pot full of flowers that not only ruined almost an entire rug but also got on the end of her wedding dress which now had to be dried. Keith got lost in the village and woke up late that morning but now both of them were being watched so as to not make more of a mess or leave the castle so they were running out of ideas.

Hunk had been pacing most of the time, giving out small ideas for diversions when he came up with them but mostly talking Pidge’s ear off or messing with the hologram projector planets. “I know we’re best friends, I’ve never doubted that we’re thick as thieves he even told me about his crush on Keith and whatever was going on with them--you know they never said they were boyfriends? Like it’s pretty much obvious they’re like in love or whatever now just look at what they were planning to do!--and like he never told me? Me! Hunk, his best friend!”

Pidge had gotten pretty good at blocking out all other conversation when they needed to focus and Hunk was used to them not listening so this arrangement seemed to happen a lot. They kept scanning the different feeds from different cameras, trying not to get too tripped up on who could be the shifter and focus on finding Lance.

“There he is!” Pidge pointed to the the screen that faced out towards the sea. “He’s going to land on the beach.”

“We better hurry. If Lance lands before we get there, the shapeshifter could be waiting for him.” Hunk said.

They hurried from the room to find Keith and Allura, nearly running into Coran just outside the door. 

“Aren’t you supposed to be with Allura? I thought I just saw you with her.” He looked at Pidge oddly. “I was nearly certain...”

Pidge’s eyes grew large as they looked at Hunk. “Yeah, I just needed to grab Hunk I’m headed back now, bye!” The two of them ran towards Allura’s room, hoping to catch the shapeshifter before anything happened to the princess.

“Allura!” Pidge and Hunk burst into the room so see her sitting with her hairbrush in hand and luckily still in one piece.

“Did you find Lance?” She asked desperately.

Pidge held out a hand to stop Hunk from answering right away. “What color lion is Hunk?” 

“Yellow, what’s wrong?”

“Was I in here earlier?” Pidge asked, suddenly suspicious.

“No, you’ve been in the Star Room watching for Lance, haven’t you?”

Hunk groaned. “That was him! He made a Coran mask too!”

“Have you found him yet though?” She asked again.

“Lance will be landing any second, that thing is probably already there!”

“If you find Shiro, take him with you you may need more help. Hurry, go!” Allura ushered them from the room and they ran back out, heading towards the village and completely bypassing King Alfor who asked if they’d seen Lance yet. Hunk yelled something like Lance was napping somewhere but they were in too much of a hurry to sit and talk. 

“There’s his ship!” Hunk said, pointing up to the clouds where a ship was coming down for a landing nearby.

“I doubt he knows about the cliff’s edge, let’s head that way.” Pidge said turning into it, hoping they made their way through to the beach before Lance could land. 

Though the trail down the cliff was small and a little hard to maneuver, Hunk charged down as quick as he could. Pidge was impressed with how brave he was when his friend was in trouble since normally this trek was one of his least favorite of their activities. They made it down the side faster than if they’d gone around, but they’d still made a detour along the way in Allura’s room. They saw Coran coming down the beach and hid behind one of the sand dunes to watch for where the ship would come in. It touched down just between them and Pidge and Hunk sprung from their hiding spot as soon as Coran started running towards it.

“Pidge, Hunk! I thought you were going to find the--” His words were cut off with Pidge using their bracelet to shoot out an electric shock.

“Does mine do that?” Hunk asked excitedly.

Pidge ignored the question--of course not, they only needed one working bracelet to get bored and move on to the next project--and ran to the fallen Coran. “Who are you? Why are you doing all this?”

“Doing what? What’s going on?” Coran asked.

“Don’t play with me, I know you’re the shapeshifter!” They aimed their arm again to administer another shock if they needed to.

“I’m Altean, Pidge, we can all do that!” 

“Pidge, do you think maybe we got the wrong one again?” Hunk asked.

“What are you talking about?”

“You’re probably right Hunk, Coran is the only one who would remember that I used to call our abilities chameleon effect, right?”

Coran nodded, trying to get to his feet. “Exactly.”

Pidge shocked him again, this time at closer range. “You really fell for that one? I set up such an obvious trap!”

Coran smiled. Right before their eyes, he shrunk down into a tiny little mouse, scampering between them as Pidge tried zapping and Hunk tried catching. It was hard for them to avoid each other, specifically Hunk with the electricity. The little creature burrowed into the sand and must have shifted again because they couldn’t find anything but more sand as they dug down. 

“Okay, safe to assume that yes, that was the shapeshifter.”

Pidge cursed at letting him get away but remembered they still had more to do. “Let’s get Lance.”

They forced open the doors open and made their way up into the cockpit where Lance was pounding on the door. Pidge simply reconnected a few wires that had been torn loose and the door slid open. 

“Guys!” His blue eyes lit up like a child’s at seeing them.

“Lance!” Hunk nearly knocked him to the ground in his excitement and they were all pretty sure he was crying. “We were so worried!”

“Where’s Keith?” He asked. “I know how it looked, I saw it but--”

“We know, we all know. He knows you didn't leave him here on purpose.” Pidge assured him. 

“Yeah and speaking of that, what were you  _ thinking _ ?” Hunk demanded, smacking the back of Lance’s head. “Leaving me like that, the  _ nerve _ , Lance, I could have had a heart attack! But you wouldn’t have even cared, would you!”

Lance rubbed at the back of his head like trying to erase the pain of the little smack. “Yeah.... sorry about that. We got a little carried away and it’s not like I was  _ never  _ going to tell you guys...”

“You were just going to leave me a note that said “bye” like that thing did for Keith? Yeah spoiler alert, it didn’t go over smoothly for him, it wouldn’t have for me either!”

“Yes great, sorry to interrupt our scheduled bromance argument, but we’ve got company!” Pidge said pointing up to where a small pod was crashing down towards them. “Run!” 

  
  


Keith fidgeted nervously with his outfit, causing Shiro to slap his hands down again like he’d done a dozen times before. They’d stalled all they could and now Keith stood waiting for his name to be called so he could walk down a short aisle, say a few words and be married to the Altean princess. That had been the plan the whole time and yet knowing what he knew now he thought he might actually short circuit. 

“Don’t worry about it, Pidge and Hunk are on it.”

“Every time you tell me not to worry, I worry even more.” He snapped, taking a deep breath. “Sorry, I’m just worried. What if something happened to him? I wish I could be there when they get him rather than stuck here pretending and pretending until whoops, it happened you’re actually married.”

“That won’t happen. I’ll cause a scene if I need to.” 

Keith smiled a little. “Thanks, Shiro. You know, throughout this whole thing, I don’t know what I would have--”

“Keith, prince of the Galra!” One of the Alteans called out as his cue to enter the Great Hall. His emotional waterfall was going to have to wait for now but he really wanted Shiro to know what he meant to him, especially after seeing how hurt he’d looked when he found out they were planning to leave without telling anyone. 

They two took the slow, measured steps down the aisle, Shiro following a bit behind him as a slow, pleasant song played for them. He spotted little Leelah sitting in one of the rows with a few of the other children from their trips to the village. He waved at her a little bit which made her blush and wave back to him, giggling a little to her friends. 

King Alfor waited at the end of the aisle--was it really King Alfor? Keith couldn’t help but wonder even though he was certain Pidge and Hunk had followed the shifter out to the beach--where he thought he’d be marrying off his daughter. He looked how Keith imagined most fathers did on their daughter’s wedding day; proud and happy and sad but not a crying sad, just the soft sort of realization of the passing of time sort of sad. A bitter voice in the back of his mind reminded him that his own father wasn’t here to see him married off even if it  _ was  _ a fake wedding.

He stood on one side of King Alfor, looking towards the entrance where Allura would be entering any moment. Shiro looked around like he’d heard a noise and Keith’s ears twitched just slightly like they had but it was still just too far away to connect in his brain.

“Allura, princess of the glorious land of Altea!” Keith thought that was a little biased, but he was in their castle marrying their princess so he supposed he couldn’t really say that.

The doors opened again and revealed the princess, more beautiful than they’d ever seen here before. Braided throughout her soft white hair were dozens of juniberry flowers, her dress was simple and he could still see a little, hardly noticeable if you weren’t looking for it line where she’d spilled on it earlier. He glanced back at Shiro whose eyes told him he saw more than the flowers in her hair or the fabric at the bottom of her dress. What Shiro saw was the sparkle on her cheeks that brought out the sparkle of her eyes and the lace that settled so nicely against her dark skin or pink lips that smiled so warmly towards them. Shiro saw in Allura’s smile what Keith saw in Lance’s. 

She reached the end of the aisle and shared a look that Keith was sure was mirrored on his own face. It seemed to say she was running low on ideas and they were running even less on time. His ears twitched again, this time sure they’d picked up a sound ever so faint. 

“Altea.” King Alfor began, capturing Keith’s attention. “We are gathered here today to join in a harmonious union, not only these two people but two civilizations in a lasting alliance to bring happiness to all.” He paused for the people’s applause which Keith hoped happened enough for Pidge and Hunk to burst in with their culprit. “When an Altean highborn such as Princess Allura is to be married to another highborn, we expect her to carry the same kindness, intelligence and passion into her new life as she had in her old. We welcome the Galra prince, Keith, with open arms and high hopes for their future.”

He couldn’t keep his eyes anywhere, least of all Allura’s face. Instead, Keith scanned the room behind her, the audience, again catching Leelah’s eye. She didn’t seem to be smiling as much as the others, it was a soft smile that seemed only there as a polite custom of wedding tradition rather than an expression of her feelings. She knew, he’d told her he didn’t love Allura. He hoped she would be smiling a lot more for her own wedding, especially if the one standing with her was her best friend. 

Keith turned his head more when his ears picked up on another noise, growing closer but still too far to make out what it was. He looked back to Allura who seemed confused. His hearing must have been more powerful than hers, but he had no way to tell her that might be Pidge and Hunk now. The smile that tugged at his lips must have been enough to get the message across though, because she looked towards the door too, hoping to hear more. 

“From this alliance, both Galra and Altean peoples will enjoy peace and prosperity under our new prince and princess as they ready themselves to rule our shared lands one day themselves.”

That time there was definitely a noise, a sound like someone running into something down the hall. Shiro shifted just behind him and even though he couldn’t see him, he seemed to be trying to at least tell Allura who had glanced over. Shiro tapped his bracelet, hoping she understood he meant Pidge was coming. Ever since he’d gotten the new Galra arm, nearly all of his senses had improved. He was pretty sure they’d done more than mess with his arm and gotten a little carried away, but it was coming in handy right now. 

“For our future--” King Alfor stopped when something broke outside, a sound even Alteans could hear. They looked towards the doors and watched as they opened again, this time revealing the other Altean high born.

Lance pushed the doors open, hands returning to his side which was quickly becoming soaked in red. His head had a small scratch and a line of blood leading down his temple, yet he still had a smile the moment his eyes met Keith’s. There was a lot of sudden noise, but Keith didn’t hear a thing until he caught Lance in his arms, helping him down to the floor, brushing hair away from his face. 

“Hey, Keith.” He winced as he touched the ground, still staring into Keith’s eyes like it was the most amazing thing he’d ever seen.

Keith had to resist the urge to hug or kiss him, though his whole body ached for it. “Hey, Lance.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I realize now that it sounds like I'm killing him, BUT I'M NOT OKAY HE'S GONNA BE FINE


	11. Chapter 11

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> “This is so unfair!” Lance cried.
> 
> “You wanna stomp your foot while you’re at it?” Pidge asked.

Pidge and Hunk tumbled inside and shut the doors behind them “We need to get the castle defenses up  _ now _ !” Pidge said. There was a sound like someone banging on the door and Hunk jumped.

“Everyone, away from the doors!” King Alfor commanded. 

Keith helped Lance to  chair, his hands shaking over the bloody wound in his side. “What happened to you?” 

Lance winced as he shifted slightly. “Well turns out whoever locked me up was working for someone.”

“Who?”

“Emperor Zarkon.” 

Keith’s hands fell. His father? No, what, there was no way, this alliance was supposed to help them. Then again, Pidge was now holding a small Galra blaster and Hunk was explaining a similar story. 

They opened the doors and a robotic Galra sentry was standing outside, ready to attack until Pidge blew it’s head off. 

“I swear, I didn’t know.” Keith turned his eyes back to Lance, taking on of his hands. “I had nothing to do with this, I promise--”

“Keith! I know, we know you didn’t plan this.” Lance squeezed his hand. “Pidge figured it out. The shapeshifter must have been on the ship with you and he’s been here this whole time. He took off in the ship he locked me on, probably to go meet back up with the main fleet. They also figured that’s why all those people came which surprised you two. He’s trying to get rid of two problems at once.”

Keith felt anger flare in his chest. His father was the reason Lance had been ejected into space and why he was currently bleeding onto the tile. He was attacking this planet, probably having thought they would be too distracted to notice the invasion.

“We need to get Lance to a Healing Pod.” Hunk said, coming over to them. 

“Take him. I know the Galra attacks, I need to get to the Star Room.”

“I’ll take you.” Allura said, tying back her hair like she was ready to tear down any sentries in their way. 

“Keith!” Shiro called out.

They looked to see a few of the Alteans had cornered him, faces angry and scared. He crossed the room and stood between them, arms open. “We did not do this! We really came in search of peace and alliance with your planet!” He insisted.

“You bring only blood to our planet!” One person shouted. There was now a wall between Keith and Shiro and the others, blocked by angry Alteans who wanted to defend their prince. 

Lance tried to move towards them, but faltered as he pulled away from Hunk. “Get him out of here!” Keith pleaded. 

Hunk pulled Lance's arm over his shoulder and lead him from the room despite his attempts to go back and help Keith. Pidge and Allura tried to get through to him but they were held back for fear that the two boys would attack them. 

Shiro looked down at his arm, aware of how menacing it must look to them so he tucked it behind him. “We had no knowledge of this plan, we swear!”

“A Galra swear!”

“We almost let him marry our princess!” 

Keith tried not to be hurt by their words. These same people had been so welcoming to him only weeks before, he could imagine how much hurt they must feel believing they’d been betrayed by him now that he’d made such an effort to gain their trust. 

A small Altean pushed through the crowd’s legs. Leelah took a solid stance in front of Keith, crossing her arms and planting herself there with no intention of being moved. “Prince Keith said he did not bring these people here so he didn’t! I trust him, we all trusted him just an hour ago, he is the same person the only difference is you’re all scared!” 

Another little girl, one with scared eyes but just a firm a stance came and stood next to her. “Leelah is right!” She took Leelah’s hand to strengthen her resolve and Keith wondered if this was the girl Leelah had promised to marry one day. 

A few of the others kids stood with them, barricading Keith and Shiro from their parents, begging the adults to see past their fear. Kids were truly amazing. Keith’s heart swelled with love for these small, brave children. Allura and Pidge finally made it through as the crowd tried to pull the kids back in to them. 

“Keith and Shiro are both great friends of mine and Lance’s, you are not to harm them, is that understood?” Allura had never used such a forceful voice around Keith before that he was stunned to hear such a tone come from the same girl who smiled so warmly and easily. 

King Alfor came back through the doors--when had he left? Where were the Galra advisors? Keith was only just now realizing so much had happened in such a short time--and demanded they stand down. “Allura is right. Our youth often speaks wisdom when we as adults has lost sight of it. “He put a hand on Keith’s shoulder. “Prince Keith, I know this is was not your doing and I know this will be putting you in a difficult situation--”

“I will help you defeat them.” He said. “They thought they could come here and wipe out an entire race to use this planet’s resources. I know him, he does not do war without absolute annihilation, I will not let that happen to Altea.” 

Allura hugged him tightly. “Thank you Keith,” she whispered, “thank you so much.”

“I’m pretty sure I can narrow down their plan of attack of I can get to the Star Room.” He told Alfor.

“Pidge, Allura, go with Keith and Shiro. We will collect the villagers and bring them here for protection.” He kissed Allura’s head quickly. “I knew you were still too young to get married.”

She smiled a little then turned and ran down the hall with her friends in tow. They made it to the Star Room without any run ins, but they heard a few shots in the distance so another swarm of sentries must have arrived. Allura pulled up the Altean’s solar system and Keith outlined the most likely course of the Galra’s attack with Pidge absorbing everything so they knew what defenses to focus on. Shiro watched for attackers, pulling in a few stray Alteans when a sentry was pursuing them down the hallway. Coran popped in through one of the secret passageways--leading to a concerned Pidge who thought they had guarded that passage past anyone else knowing about it--and he brought news that Lance had made it into the Healing Pod and there were guards there with him and Hunk now.

Keith finished outlining the most plausible few courses and Pidge rushed off to find King Alfor and let him know. Shiro looked up at the planets, standing near Keith, both of them wondering how they could have missed this. Allura sensed the two blaming themselves and moved between them, taking their hands in hers and squeezing gently. 

“I’m sorry Allura.” Keith said.

“For what? Coming to Altea with great ideas that would have benefitted your people just as much as mine? For becoming my friend? For making my brother the happiest I’ve ever seen him?” She smiled that signature smile of hers that just made him think maybe all of this was going to be okay. 

“I wish I would have seen it before. That’s my whole job is helping you and I missed this completely.” Shiro sighed in defeat. 

Allura dropped their hands and moved in front of him, pulling his gaze from the floating Altea to her her blue eyes. “I cannot think of anyone I would have wanted to accompany my almost husband. Shiro, you have been so helpful, so loyal, and I would ask you two to come here a million times over if only to have these last few weeks together. You two, well maybe you’re not used to having anyone but each other, but for me and Lance and Hunk and Pidge, we would choose you both again and again.” 

Shiro had a feeling he shouldn’t, but he was a little tired of listening to when he should and shouldn’t do and well it seemed to have worked for Keith so far. He put a hand gently on Allura’s cheek, pulling her in and pressing their lips together. Keith felt like he should avert his gaze so he did, only to have it land on Coran who looked like he’d just had an aneurysm.

They pulled apart, and Allura said “I’ve been wondering about that” before pulling him back in. 

Keith gently patted Conan's shoulder. “It’s tough seeing them growing up.” 

“What the quiznack is going on here?” He asked, finger drifting from Keith to Shiro and Allura. 

“Tell you after we survive this, okay?” Keith said with a small smile. 

Pidge walked in, laptop in hand. “Well it’s about time. Anyways, Keith, if you can just double check for any holes--” they sort of laughed and backtracked “--oh, me missing holes, I’m going to have to use that on Hunk. But yeah, does this look like what you were thinking?”

Keith looked it over, the particle barrier and ion cannons and blasters. “Wow, I thought Alteans were diplomats.”

“This castle was also built for a time when we still needed Voltron.” Coran reminded him. 

“Looks about right. We still need to deal with the sentries though.”

“They should be stuck outside the particle barrier and anyone who’s inside will be taken care of.”

Keith shook his head. “They’ll remain dormant until they find someone or something to fire on.”

“He’s right.” Shiro agreed. “Emperor Zarkon won’t take them back to regroup, they’ll just wait us out. The longer we wait to attack, the more he’ll send down and the bigger a problem we’ll have later.”

Pidge thought for a moment. “If I can get one of them I would love to get my hands on their wiring. Send them back up and tear up this army from the inside out.”

Keith thought for a moment. “Maybe not that exact plan, but you’re onto something here. I know he isn’t here, he never joins in on the fight directly the coward, but if we can send a sentry back to the fleet in a different ship and make them attack, it won’t matter if the ship goes down.”

“We send them up there, cannon’s firing and all that we lose is scrap metal!” They looked incredibly happy to rewire a few robots who were going to be aiming for their head.

“We’re going to have to actually get out there to get one though.” Shiro pointed out.

Allura groaned. “Lance knew this one backdoor entrance--”

“Ask and ye shall receive.” Lance said, popping out of the secret passage way.

“How does everyone know about that?” Pidge demanded.

Keith ran over to him, careful not to jostle him too much in the desperate hug he gathering him in. “What are you doing here?”

Lance pecked his lips, arms wrapped around Keith’s neck. “You think I’m going to leave you to defend my planet alone?”

“We’re all right here, Lance.” Allura reminded him.

“Oh good, the gang’s all here. And Coran, hi Coran.”

Coran was looking at Keith and Lance the way he’d been looking at Allura and Shiro earlier. He turned his eyes to Hunk and Pidge to which they both immediately put his fears to rest.

“Definitely not!” Pidge cried, jumping a few feet back.

“No, no way!” Hunk agreed.

“Are you sure you should even be running around?” Keith said, looking down at Lance’s side.

“It’s a little sore, but nothing terrible. Luckily, all they hit was a few arteries that the Pod fixed up pretty quick.” He lifted his shirt, showing only a faded scar like it had been years since the incident and he’d let the wound heal on it’s own time.

Keith kissed him before hugging him close, arms clinging to his shirt and burying his head in Lance’s neck afterwards. “I’m glad you’re okay.”

“I’m always okay.” He smiled but his eyes searched every piece of Keith’s face like a part of him had thought he’d never see it again.

  
  


“This is so unfair!” Lance cried.

“You wanna stomp your foot while you’re at it?” Pidge asked.

“I can’t believe he closed the hole!”

“It’s supposed to be impenetrable, Lance, otherwise it’s not a very good defense, is it?” Keith pointed out. 

“Fair enough.” He grumbled.

“Now we need a different way to get out there.” Shiro said, tapping the forcefield. 

“How much do you trust me?” Pidge asked.

“Less every time you ask that.” Hunk said, his shoulders sagging.

“I’ve been working on a sort of displacer disk, it’s supposed to be used for a wall so not something electrical, but I imagine it could work.” They rummaged through their backpack and pulled out a small disk that easily fit inside their palm.

“Ah yes, we’ll all just squeeze through that then.” Keith muttered.

Pidge pressed it to the particle barrier, tapped a few places and the disk spread, displacing the barrier as it grew. They gave Keith a smug look. “Who want’s to go first?”

“No way, I’m always the test dummy for your experiments!” Hunk took a few steps back.

Shiro shrugged and stuck his robotic arm through the middle, more willing to lose that one again than his flesh and blood one. Nothing horrible happened, though he noted Allura caught her breath and Hunk was hiding his eyes, so he stepped through, standing on the other side without and scars to show for it. 

“Looks fine to me.”

“There, see? Perfectly safe.” Pidge said, following him out.

The others filed out and Pidge closed the disk again; they figured  _ leaving  _ a big hole in the castle defenses wasn’t a good idea.

“I take it you used to sneak out a lot?” Keith whispered as they crept along towards where the sentries lie in wait.

“All the time.” Lance answered with a mischievous smile. “Just to get out sometimes, you know? It was nice.”

“Shh!” Allura hissed.

Pidge handed a small piece of metal to each of them. “Just aim it at them and we’ll see if one is left standing.” They ducked behind the four of them, hands over their eyes as they did what they were told. 

A small projectile sprung from the ends of the metal cylinders in their hands and ended up creating an explosion on impact with the metal sentries, shocking all but Pidge who looked thrilled it worked as well as they imagined. 

“Perfect!” 

“That one’s still moving.” Shiro said, pointing out one who’s lost an arm and a leg. “Other than that, I think they worked a little too well.”

“Not to worry, I can reassemble it. Someone grab that one and a spare arm and leg.” They gathered their parts and headed back to reopen their hole. 

They should have known better than to expect it would have been so easy. 

Shots fired out from behind them, making it difficult for anyone to do much more than try not to get gunned down.

“There’s more of them?” Allura demanded, ducking behind the main body of a sentry and Shiro held between them.

“He’s a little excessive, though I suppose for him it works out well.” Shiro said. 

“Of course the time I don’t have the shield on me!” Pidge complained.

“Anything else?”

They pulled out what looked like a handle of something. “Well there’s this...”

They handed it to Keith and in his hands, the handle changed into a sword, one perfectly balanced in his grip. “Perfect!” He stepped out from their huddle and charged the entire group of sentries, blocking start shots with his blade and slicing them down once he got close enough.

“Woah...” Lance watched in awe of him, his fast reflexes and powerful swings that brought down all but one of the sentries which he then disarmed and knocked to the ground. 

“Pidge, I got a whole one.” He said, finally taking a deep breath.

Pidge scrambled over and messed with the wiring while the others stood amid the fallen robots. Lance planted a kiss on him, saying something about that being incredibly attractive. Keith blushed a light lavender and they went back to hauling the robot inside.  Strung between Shiro and Hunk, they dragged the sentry to the Star Room where Coran was waiting for them.

“I leave for a tick and you all disappear!” he shouted as they filed in. “The lot of you! Then we hear explosions outside!”

“We took them down, Coran, I didn't think we'd get yelled at.” Lance grumbled. 

Pidge ignored everyone and got to work on the robot. Conversations and time seemed to blend together when they got down to work, wires and electricity were now the only pieces of the universe they cared about. It was easy enough to figure out the main power source and dislocate it and from there it was just a matter of reworking the purpose it had been created with. 

“Done.” They shut the control panel. “Hello Mr. Robot, how do you feel about helping us out?” 

The sentry gave a jerky salute.

“Go Pidge!” Hunk said with a proud look.

“Time to send him out.”

“Better hurry, it's nearly dark I doubt the main ships are far behind these sentry ones.” Shiro warned. 

“He can handle it.” Pidge stood and gave explicit directions from getting into a specific ship to exactly how to take down the fleet. The robot saluted again and headed out the door.

“We should probably go with him.” Lance said.

Keith nodded. “They might attack thinking they just missed one earlier.” 

Keith and Lance followed him while Pidge went to find King Alfor to disarm the defenses for the sentry to get by. Shiro and Allura went to find the Galra advisors as they were hoping the two of them could come to some sort of agreement with them as to help.

Lance laced his fingers in Keith's as they followed the sentry down the hall. The latter looked worriedly around the hall for Alteans wandering the castle. “Don't worry about it,” Lance said with a little smile. “I'm pretty sure you're not still going to be marrying Allura after this.”

That was true. This was pretty much the biggest issue an alliance could encounter so all their hard work was out the window and Lance... well Lance was here. With him, holding his hand and lightly bumping their shoulders together and for the moment it was all that mattered.

“I'm glad you're not stuck out in space.” Keith said.

Lance pretended to wipe a tear from his eye. “That's the sweetest thing you've ever said to me.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> See? Lance is fine


	12. Chapter 12

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Keith looked into his eyes, the blues a mixture of the markings on his cheeks and the ocean water behind him. How could anyone ever think of blue as synonymous with sadness? Of all the beautiful things in the world, the ocean, the sky, stars, galaxies, how had anyone ever thought blue would be the color of sadness?

They watched through the particle barrier as the sentry--who Pidge had named ‘Roger’ for whatever reason--did as he was programed, driving the ship he’d taken into the others, gunning them all down and eradicating their floating enemy. The Alteans cheered for their victory, glad that they had found a new group of heroes to defend them in times of need. 

Keith talked to the Galra advisors the next morning, learning that they’d all come on explicit orders from the emperor to be agreeable and not cause a fuss about the alliance. That shifter must have been listening in on their meetings as Prorok pointed out the attack was probably supposed to have been after the wedding with a single ship. Keith hadn’t thought about it, but that was true. Normally, the sentries were much more numerous to eradicate any hope of winning which nearly sealed their victory as soon as the ships were spotted. 

“It would have looked like we were trading security for something and he could have said the Alteans destroyed them, he probably still could.” Thace agreed.

“We have to stop him.” Keith insisted.

“How do you propose we do that, Hafling Prince?” Prorok snarled.

He narrowed his eyes and rose from his seat, sick of trying to be polite to people like him. “We dethrone my father.” 

The advisors erupted into loud discussion, accusing him of being in on the plot the whole time or agreeing that Zarkon needed to be removed. Shiro looked at him with a slightly worried expression.

“Look at Thace.” Keith whispered. 

Shiro did, noticing he was the most calm of them, somewhat confident in Keith’s words. “What did you do?”

“I learned to read people from you, Shiro, look at him and then look at  _ who he is _ .”

“You mean... you’re going to give it up?”

“The Galra Empire has had it’s share of my bloodline, why not let them make up their own minds now?”

Shiro smiled. Keith had always been one to rise to the occasion even if he didn’t want to just to prove he could, he didn’t realize just how much of a farce this prince facade was until he saw the weight lifting off Keith’s shoulders with just the thought of giving up the title. 

The prince slammed his hands down on the table, effectively getting their attention. “You will not disagree, I think, that the Galra Empire is in need of a new rule.”

“You think that could be you, a boy?” Prorok growled.

“I  _ know  _ it could.” Keith said firmly, eyes piercing and daring. “I know that I, as the prince, could lead my people, I’ve been training to do so for most of my life. But I know that not everyone will be excited for my rule as you have so elegantly displayed.” Shiro held back a laugh at the offense written across Prorok’s face. “So I will not be taking my father’s place, no one will. I will not be the next King, there will be no King. Thace, it is my understanding that you have a plan for the Empire.”

All eyes turned to Thace who looked surprised. “It is not only mine, I assure you.”

“You were the only one willing to bring it to my attention. You have always been a voice for the people, Zarkon sent you here to eradicate you and your sphere of influence. I will not be a ruler who ignored the wishes of my people, though I have been for a while now. I know the people do not speak highly of the current ruler and I doubt they would be willing to pick me over you. Thace, I hope that I can trust you to build up our people, the people who would benefit from this alliance with Altea, only now as two planets in friendship, one a kingdom and the other a democracy.”

Keith expected an eruption, an earth shattering scream and cry that they would never let him destroy their empire like this by handing it over to Thace, but there was nothing. There was silence, maybe the first silence between this group of men ever. 

“You have proven yourself wise, Halfling.” Prorok admitted. “Not enough to see that everyone here feels the same way as Thace, but wise still.”

He glanced around the table at everyone in front of him. “You all plotted against my father?”

“A tyrant.” Prorok corrected. “We accept your abdication, Prince Keith, on a few conditions.” 

Keith was immediately guarded again. “Let’s hear them.”

“First, you must relinquish all your power. Just because you are a prince for now, does not mean you can ask for a position in our new culture. You must be chosen as we have been by the people.”

“Wait, who has chosen you?” Keith asked.

Thace smiled a little. “We didn’t decide we were going to take Zarkon down from the inside on our own. You mentioned my sphere of influence before, but I doubt you know just how large that is.”

“Second, you must not use your past title of Prince once you leave this room to gain favor in any realm. And third, we require the use of the ideas you’ve outlined in your alliance with the Altean Royalty.”

Keith was stunned. They weren’t asking him to be exiled from the empire, not public show of giving up his power, nothing Keith hadn't already considered. “Absolutely.” He agreed. 

The men were relieved, breaking into conversation about how they could most quickly organize a march on the capital while Zarkon awaited news of the Fall of Altea. Keith removed anything that had once labelled him a prince, laying it on the table to show his commitment to their agreement. 

“May I now make a request?” He asked. Prorok looked skeptical as if to say he’d just given up all his power, he had no reason to ask for anything now but Thace allowed him to speak. “I want you to tell the people exactly what happened. How he was callous with the lives on this planet, including yours and mine. I want them to know about this alliance, every piece of it and I want them to approve it with a majority vote. I want this new Galra Era to be one of the people, not of multiple dictators.”

Prorok narrowed his eyes on Keith now. “You think we--”

“Agreed.” Thace said, raising a hand to silence Prorok. “Keith, will you accompany us to the empire?” 

“No.” Keith shook his head. “I’m free to roam to universe without political agenda, I think you and your followers will have just as easy a time without me as with.” 

Thace smiled. “You are a much better man than your father ever was.”

“Thank you.” Keith turned around and he and Shiro left the room, leaving his throne, his power, and his title on the table for them to distribute to his people. He could not think of a better way for his people to enter this alliance than to see it for themselves and enter it willingly without any secrecy the way it should be.

“That was brave.” Shiro said as they walked down the halls. 

Keith shrugged. “Was it? It just felt like the right thing to do.”

“For what it’s worth, you would have made a better king than your father.”

“Well that’s not very hard. But the people want something new, not me.”

“See that right there is bravery. Making the choices for the greater good.” Shiro smiled proudly at him.

At the far end of the hall, they looked to see Lance charging down the hallway, Allura Pidge and Hunk hurrying after him. “Well there might have been a  _ tiny  _ selfish reason in there too.”

Lance slammed into him, nearly crashing to the ground. “Don’t get mad, this was Pidge’s fault and Allura’s idea but truth be told, I was totally on board anyways, I can’t believe you gave up your throne! Keith, that’s major that’s like, insane! From what we could hear you’re pretty sure this is the best course of action, but I just can’t believe you did it!”

“You were  _ listening _ ?” Keith demanded.

“Hey I said don’t get mad.” Lance batted his eyes innocently.

“That was amazing, Keith.” Allura said, hugging him too. “We’re so proud of you.”

“People keep saying that.” He smiled, gently hugging her back. “They should be leaving later today.”

“As soon as they can I bet. They were ecstatic.” Shiro said with a little smile. “You’re certain you want to do this?”

“Yeah.” Keith gave a decisive nod. “They need to be trusted to lead their own lives, it’s not like he was a great ruler and I learned under him so why should they trust me?”

“But you’d be a wonderful King!” Allura insisted.

“Yeah, they’d be crazy not to see you’re different than your father.” Lance agreed. 

“They wanted someone like Thace. I trust him enough to let him take over, I’m not sure I could lead my people into this new stage. The people will even get to vote on the alliance if your father is okay with renegotiating some time once things get settled.”

“I’m sure that we could work that out. Might be a little awkward, but I mean at least we won’t be getting married this time around.” Allura said.

“You better not be!” Lance said, putting his arm around Keith’s shoulders. “This adorably emo peasant boy is all mine!” 

“Excuse me?” 

“Well you’re not a prince anymore.” Lance pointed out.

“Did you just call me emo?” Keith raised his eyebrow.

“Oh well would you just look at the time it’s time for us to be going this way now, sorry guys bye!” Lance grabbed Keith’s hand and pulled him down the hall. He dragged the boy all the way out of the castle, through the hole in the rock, down the hill and to the cliff’s edge. 

Lance dangled his legs off the side again, lying his head back on Keith’s lap so the latter could play with his hair while they talked. “You didn’t believe it at first?”

Keith shook his head. “No, I trusted you.”

“But you did later on. Hunk said you locked yourself in your room.” He smiled a little.

“I will push you off this cliff.” He said, blushing bright purple.

“Really though.” He reached over and grabbed keith’s hands. “You were really upset when you thought I left you here but you didn’t think I really had just before that.”

“It’s hard to argue with the fact that I saw you, or... what I thought was you, leaving that note for me.” The note apologized for leaving and tried to make me feel better about it and I just... well that one made more sense to me I guess.”

Lance sat up, looking right into his eyes. “You trusted me not to leave but then when you saw me with convincing evidence you doubted that trust?”

“I... I doubted me more than you.” Keith looked out towards the water. “I doubted how much I could really mean to someone. I mean, I haven’t had much practice being important to people other than Shiro and it was sort of his  _ job  _ to care about me and we just happened to be friends after years and years but you? You didn’t have a reason to care about me like I wanted you to so... I doubted.”

Taking his face between his hands, Lance pulled his eyes back to his own face. “I have every reason to care about you.” He kissed Keith’s lips passionately, a faint taste of salty sea air between their breaths, in a desperate attempt to  _ show  _ Keith how much he mattered to him. “I was telling the truth when we were up there again. I would have left with you that exact minute but you had to be responsible, you had to be a compassionate leader which I just love. I still want to leave with you. I wanted to leave the moment I saw you again, to just run and pretend nothing was going on besides the two of us.” He kissed him again, a quick one this time, but just as passionate. “I would get on any ship headed for any planet at any minute as long as I get to take you with me.”

Keith had tears in his eyes, his hands holding Lance’s and tracing little circles with his thumbs. “Even now that I’m not a prince?”

“Are you kidding!” Lance nearly laughed, tears in his eyes too. “It makes it easier for us! I can  _ be  _ with you, Keith, we can actually think about the word  _ us  _ without having to whisper it to each other.”

Keith closed his eyes, touching his forehead to Lance’s. “Thank you.”

“Thank you,  _ Keith _ .” He smiled. “I don’t think anything had ever made me think as hard as the alliance you planned, nothing has made me feel as strong as what I’ve felt for you, and nothing has made me feel more brave then when I know you’re next to me.” 

Keith looked into his eyes, the blues a mixture of the markings on his cheeks and the ocean water behind him. How could anyone ever think of blue as synonymous with sadness? Of all the beautiful things in the world, the ocean, the sky, stars, galaxies, how had anyone ever thought blue would be the color of sadness?

He was so lost in those eyes and Lance in his that neither one noticed the pods drifting up to the shore below the cliff. Neither one noticed  _ how many _ pods drifted to the shore below them. Both of them, however, noticed when the first shot was made. A beam shot up past the edge of the cliff, narrowly missing them. More followed, making it impossible to peer over the edge to see what was going on below them. 

“Those sounds like Galra weapons.” Keith said as the rocks started getting blasted below their feet.

“Keith! Remember how you said it was weird there weren’t as many? Well what if this is just the second wave?” Lance tried getting closer to the edge but Keith pulled him back.

“We’ve got to get out of here. We have to tell you father!” Keith said. They scrambled to their feet, hoping it took who or whatever was down there long enough to get up that the two of them would already be gone. 

At the top of the hill, Lance pointed down towards other beaches where more pods were washing up near the village. Leelah popped into Keith’s mind and without a word, they both ran to warn the Alteans. 

“They could be everywhere!” Lance said between heavy breaths.

“We have to get everyone back to the castle again!” Keith panted. “Split up!” 

“Yeah what could go wrong?” Lance asked but he listened anyways. 

The two boys ran through the village, calling out to everyone to get to the castle. Slamming on doors, asking people to get the word around and just  _ run _ , the two managed to get through to everyone and met back up where they could look out to see the sentries coming up. 

“That’s not normal.” Keith noted.

“What the sheer number? We’re so outnumbered, we’ll never get everyone back there.” Lance was sending the others a message with the bracelets Pidge had given them--he’d been so excited when he got his, even after Pidge said it didn’t do all the stuff theirs did--then looked up to see what Keith was talking about. “Are they walking towards... us?”

“It looks like it. Even the ones from the cliff, look.” A few of the closest ones took aim and fired, only missing them because they ducked around the side of a building.

“They’re targeting you!” Lance decided. 

“What? Why me?”

“Well, let’s take a second to think about that.” Lance grumbled as the side of the building was blown away. The two boys scrambled back, running up through the houses again. “That shifter must have reported back, you think he’s going to let the Galra on this planet live to go back and challenge him?” 

He had a point. “Then I’ll run around here, you get back to the castle.”

“Umm, no, thank you, I don’t think I’ll be abandoning you again, nice try.” 

“Lance!” Keith slowed to a stop. “This isn’t a game!”

“You’re right, this is your life!” 

“I’ll be fine! You have to make sure everyone made it!” 

“I have to make sure you make it.” Keith could hear the utter defiance in his voice and knew there wasn’t much he could say to change the Altean’s mind. “Fine do you have a better idea?”

“I do!” A little voice called out. A shot behind them sent the two boys running again, Lance scooping up Leelah who was still trying to catch her breath.

“Leelah! What are you doing here?” Keith demanded as they ran.

“I thought you’d need help!” She said, bouncing around as Lance ran. “Turn here!” 

“Why?” 

“This is my house!” 

Lance wasn’t sure why that mattered just now, but he could see sentries closing in ahead of them between spaces in the buildings so he didn’t have a better plan. Leelah jumped down from his arms and let them inside. They barricaded the door quickly then followed her upstairs onto the roof. 

“What are we doing, Leelah?”

“We heard you running around telling us to go to the castle but you weren’t headed to the castle so I figured you guys would get stuck somewhere and you did. So I was coming to help show you this way out.” She showed them the little network of boards and planks that lead from one rooftop to the others. 

“You and your friends like playing on the rooftops?” Keith asked.

“Question her while we run!” Lance said, pointing to the robots closing in on them. “Leelah, stay close and stay low!” 

They ran towards the Castle of Lions with Lelah between them. She said something about seeing Pidge come out of a hole in the ground once but they’d made her promise not to tell anyone. She figured they would make an exception for Keith and Lance this once.

They made it to the last house on the edge of the meadow of juniberry flowers and climbed down the rope ladder the kids had made. A sentry rounded the corner but Lance’s quick thinking brought it down with a well place hit of a piece of wood. They started running again, trying their best to keep Leelah covered as she lead the way. 

Time seemed to slow down for Keith as two things happened almost simultaneously. First, he was shot. Not even just once but twice. One just above his hip and the other a deep gnash in his thigh. The second was that he fell. Hard. 

Once he hit the ground, everything seemed to hit him quickly. Pain, adrenaline, panic, he felt everything at the same time. The pounding of his heart in his ears drowned out the sound of Lance screaming his name, but he was very aware of the hands that pulled him to his feet, mostly because his body was screaming in protest of such a movement. 

Lance looped Keith’s arm around his shoulders, trying to ignore the sounds of utter agony that came from his mouth in a desperate attempt to just get him out of range and in the hidden passage. He stumbled forward when a shot pierced his left shoulder, nearly letting Keith fall. 

“Lance!” Keith said, apparently able to think through the pain enough to form words. 

“No biggie!” He said through gritted teeth. “Almost there.”

Leelah helped Keith down into the hole, wincing every time a slight jostle made him groan in pain. Lance made a noise outside and tumbled in after them, his right hand now bloody too. “Leelah, go get help.” He breathed.

She had tears in her eyes as she pulled the trap door shut. “What if they get in? I can help you two.”

Keith put a hand on her arm. “Leelah, this is the best way you can help. Tell whoever you see first that we’re down here. Tell everyone else that they’re targeting Galra, okay? Can you do that for me Leelah?”

She nodded and rubbed at the tears on her face. With a small pack to both their heads,the little girl ran off, faster than she’d ever run in her whole life.

Lance moved over to Keith and brushed the hair off his face with the less bloody hand, ignoring the pain in his shoulder just for a moment. “Maybe we should stop taking trips to the village for a while.”

Keith winced but smiled at the same time as he shifted slightly, hand over his wound. “First a storm now and attack. I say bring it on, how much worse could it get?”

There was a loud noise that told them the robots had made it here. The boys looked at each other covered with smudged blood and a little dirt. “You need a shower.” Lance smiled.

“Look who’s talking.” 

The Altean boy laid down next to Keith, immense pain flaring up any time he moved. “Hey, no falling asleep, right?”

“Right.” Keith nodded, but they both knew they were feeling a little tired now that the adrenaline was wearing off and the pain was really staring to settle in. “Hey, you never guessed my favorite color, remember?”

“Are you sure it wasn’t red?” 

Keith looked at their bloodstained hands. “It probably won’t be for a really long time.”

“Green?”

“Why green?” 

“You said you like the goo.”

“Yeah, I lied about that.” 

“Figures.” Lance laughed but by the end of it, the noise had become a groan instead. “Blue?”

“Like your eyes. Like the ocean.” Keith said softly.

“You big softie.” His eyes were really feeling heavy now. “Keith...” There was no response. “Keith?” He couldn’t even sit up to see if he was still awake. 

In the distance, he was pretty sure he could hear Allura and Shiro calling out to them. He made the effort to call out, but it ended up being a fit of coughs instead. Now that he knew they were here, he could just shut his eyes, just for a moment.

_ Unless this was a hallucination. _ .. He was already sliding his eyelids shut as that last thought passed through his mind. They would just have to hope that one was wrong.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I APOLOGIZE 
> 
> also, I'm thinking only a few more chapters, we're almost done here


	13. Chapter 13

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Keith shook his head. “We can’t just sit there like, like--”
> 
> “Like sitting ducks?” Lance supplied.
> 
> “Yes, thank you, Lance.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Honestly, I just really love that part of the first season

Hunk paced between the two healing pods. “It’s only been a few ticks, Hunk, stop pacing. You’re distracting me.” Pidge complained. They’d been trying to figure out how to let the Galra advisors leave without letting the particle barrier down but they didn’t have the time to make another machine that they’d used to get out before. Now it was a matter of trying to create a diversion but if they really were trained on to Galras, the only thing to distract them was to use them as bait which would mean they wouldn’t be leaving which was sort of the whole point. They weren’t sending Keith out there again anytime soon either as he couldn’t even stand on his own right now. “Let’s get to the Star Room, I need to check a few things on that computer. Maybe you’ll calm down if you’re not looking at them like that.”

“They’ll be fine.” Allura assured him as they left.

“I can't believe we missed so many pods.” Shiro shook his head. 

Allura patted his shoulder lightly. “At least everyone got inside inside.”

“If Keith and Lance are right, the soldiers are all surrounding the castle now.” Pidge said. “That means we can’t let the Galra advisors go to get back to their empire and take down Zarkon.”

“What makes them think it’s so easy?” Hunk asked.

“Thace and Prorok have much more following that either of us thought.” Shiro sighed and looked sideways at Allura “I guess we did almost bring you into a civil war. Sorry about that.” 

“If that was the the only weird thing to come out of the past few weeks, maybe I’d be a little more upset.” 

Leelah appeared at the end of the hall. “Are they awake yet?”

“Not yet.” Hunk said, sticking his arms out to her. She ran over and hugged him, even letting him pulled her onto his shoulders as they continued down the hall. Allura put up the hologram planets and stars once they got into the Star Room and her little eyes grew three sizes. “This is amazing! Where are we?”

Hunk pointed up to Altea and she swiped her hand through the image. “Look how many other places there are out there.” He walked around as Allura pointed out a few planets she’d been to before, letting Leelah get a good look at them.

“Where is Prince Keith’s home?” She asked.

“It’s just Keith now.” Pidge said absently, plugging their laptop into the computer. 

“What?”

“He’s not a prince anymore. He gave it up.” Hunk explained.

“Oh... Why?”

“Lots of reasons I guess.” Hunk said. “He’s part Galra so his father is from all the way over here,” he brought her over to the Galra’s home planet, “but you can tell he’s not all Galra so we don’t know where else he’s from.”

“What about you?” She asked, looking over to Shiro.

He looked surprised to have been asked then like he’d almost forgotten the answer. “Umm, Earth. Even farther away, really far that way.” He pointed off towards the other side of the room and Hunk zoomed over, making her giggle a little. 

“That looks pretty. But it doesn’t have rings like a lot of planets. Why not?”

“It’s too close to their sun for the ice and debris to stay there so it all melts away.” Allura said, zooming in closer on Earth. They couldn’t get very detailed as it was more of a map than anything else, but they could see faint lines of what they assumed were landmasses. 

“There’s water on Earth too, big oceans like on Altea.” Leelah pointed out as Hunk set her on the ground. “I want to go to Earth one day.” She decided.

“Me too.” Shiro agreed.

“What’s it like?”

“I honestly don’t know. I remember the weather could be hot or cold depending on the day though. It wasn’t always the same like it is on Altea.”

Her eyes widened again. “The days change? That’s crazy! Do they have storms like on Altea?”

“That much I don’t know. But if you go there before I do, you have to come back to tell me, okay?”

“Okay.” She nodded and made a cross over her heart. “Are they going to be out soon?” She asked, looking towards the healing pods.

“You sound like Hunk.” Allura said with a smile. 

Leelah and Hunk exchanged a high five between them. “Does that mean I get to be part of the Yellow Lion?” 

Hunk smiled. “Sure thing!”

Pidge’s head shot up. “How did you know about that?”

“Know about what?”

“The Yellow Lion thing.” They stood, shutting their laptop. “We never told anyone about that.”

Leelah’s smiled fell from her face and she rolled her eyes. “I suppose I really stepped in it, didn’t I?”

“You’re the shapeshifter!” 

Leelah curtsied like she’d been given a compliment. “And you had  _ no idea _ , any of you!” She laughed wickedly, sending a shiver up Allura’s spine. They’d known Leelah for a long time, how had they not noticed it wasn’t really her?

“How did you get here?” Pidge demanded.

“Oh that doesn’t really matter does it? All that really matters is that I have everything I need now. So thanks for that.” She gave a villainous smile, twisting her young face into an evil one before changing into a small mouse like before on the beach.

“Get her!” The four of them charged the little animal, a mess of bodies attacking the same small space in hopes one of them caught her. Hunk caught her for just a moment before getting bit and letting her go out of reflex. The mouse jumped around between them, scampering over to Pidge’s laptop, scooping it up as she transformed back into Leelah and ran from the room, slamming the door behind her. They pounded on the door, but it had been locked from the outside.

“I didn’t even know this door locked!” Allura groaned, slamming her fist into the metal like that would unlock it. 

“Follow me.” Pidge pulled off a panel from one of the computer parts, revealing the passageway back to the room where they’d left Lance and Keith. They hurried through the passage, having to duck and walk sideways for most of it since Pidge said they hadn’t planned on having visitors any time soon.

“Do you think that shapeshifter was Leelah the whole time?” Hunk asked.

“No, why come get us once they got injured?” Pidge burst open the other end of the passage, relieved at first to see Lance and Keith were still there, then alarmed to see Leelah come in through the main door. She was just as surprised to see them coming through the wall as they were to see. She threw something taken off the laptop to the button between the two pods, hitting it with extreme precision and opening the pods, closing and locking the door behind her again as she ran.

The pods opened and the two boys stumbled out, looking around disoriented, Keith clutching at his side. “What is going on?”

“The shifter is back.” Pidge said as Shiro helped Keith to a chair, Allura doing the same with Lance. “You guys have to get back in there, you shouldn’t be getting out for hours still.”

Keith shook his head. “We can’t just sit there like, like--”

“Like sitting ducks?” Lance supplied.

“Yes, thank you, Lance.”

“He’s right, we can help.”

“How, you can barely stand!” Hunk threw his arms in the air like Lance was being utterly ridiculous. 

“Oh no...” Pidge’s eyes were locked no the window behind them. The others turned to see the particle barrier flicker once, twice, three times and then disappear. “We are now on lockdown.” They hurried to the computer, scrambling over the controls while the others watched the Galra sentries charging in. “Do you see anyone outside?”

“No, no Alfor told everyone to stay inside.” Hunk said.

“Yeah, cuz everyone listens to the rules, just look at us.” They muttered, slamming their hand down on a button that popped up in the middle of the control pad. Panels slammed shut over the window, making them jump.

“What is going on?” Shiro asked.

“Just trying out my lockdown precautions.” Pidge sighed. “I hoped Alfor was going to be right and we wouldn’t need them, but I guess now is as good a time as any to make sure they work. The only problem, the shifter is still here and we don’t know where.” 

  
  


They managed to convince Lance and Keith to get back in the healing pods until they needed more help. That eliminated two people for the shifter to change into, they only had the rest of the entire castle to check now. No big deal. 

“This is impossible.” Hunk sighed, watching everyone cram themselves into the Great Hall.

Pidge shrugged. “Nah, what could go wrong. If there’s two of the same person, one of them is the shifter, if not then either we look for someone we don’t know or they’re out in the castle and Allura and Shiro will find them.”

“Okay, but what if we’re wrong. What if the shifter had been here the whole time, living in Altea as one of the villagers?”

“How would they have been working for Zarkon this whole time?” 

“Okay, you got me there.” 

“Stay positive.” Pidge and Hunk pulled the doors shut and started going down lists, checking off everyone in the Hall. 

Shiro and Allura were taking the castle one hall at a time, slow going but trying to be as thorough as possible. “What if they just keep moving around?” Shiro asked.

“I was thinking that too. Pidge has some cameras set up, but if they decided to be one of us, they could just walk past without much problem while we’re in here.” Allura agreed.

“There are just too many unknown variables.” 

They wandered throughout the castle, double checking on Lance and Keith a few times just to be sure they were still okay. When they met back up with Pidge and Hunk, they compared a lack of notes to say that neither group had found the shifter. 

“At least we have the Alteans inside.”

“Oh yeah, at least we’re holding our people hostage, no big deal.” Allura huffed. “I’m certain this is the most problematic person in the universe.”

Shiro nodded. “I think that’s fair.” 

“Wait, they took my laptop, they know all the secret passages!” Pidge said suddenly.

“Why is that a good thing again?” Hunk asked, incredibly confused. 

“Because I know which one they would use to get out, and I also know that means they’re stuck.” Pidge ran down the hall, the others following behind. 

“Are we just going to leave everyone locked up in there?” Hunk asked.

“For now, yes!” They followed Pidge down the halls, through into the secret room where they’d brought Shiro the first day he and Keith arrived. They brushed past the table and flicked another switch, illuminating a panel on the far wall that lit up with electric blue light. A few taps and turns and the door swung open.

“How would they have known about the code?” Shiro asked as they all started heading in the passageway. 

“It’s in the notes on my map on the computer scan. If they are using the passages, then this one is the most direct to getting outside. I didn’t label the traps though, so I’m hoping for a little slip up.” 

“Incredible, Pidge!” Allura praised.

They stopped short, slowing down as they rounded a corner. Leelah was struggling against some sticky fibers, clinging to her arms and hair. She shifted to Coran then to a mouse and back again, mumbling in frustration. Pidge smiled. “Oh, Leelah.”

She turned, eyes angry and hard which set so oddly on her small face. “Get me out of here!” 

Hunk picked up the laptop from where it had fallen. “Who are you?”

“Get me out!” She shrieked.

“Oh, I’m sorry, are you stuck in a bit of an unfortunate situation?” Allura asked, her voice dripping with false sympathy. 

“What is this?” Hunk asked, trying to avoid stepping in any of it.

“I’m actually not sure. I found it one day on the beach and I kept it for whenever I needed it. It’s on another passageway too, but that doesn’t matter right now.” Pidge said with a dismissive wave of their hand. “What do we do about them?”

Shiro moved forward, lightly touching the strands with his metal arm, pleased to see they didn’t stick. “I’ve got it.” He pulled the strands apart, wrapping Leelah up as she glared at him. 

“Remind me to keep you around for the next time I fix this place up again.” Pidge mumbled as he finished wrapping her up. 

They took her back up to the castle, handing her over to the guards and King Alfor to deal with and letting the Alteans free from the Great Hall. 

“Now, we need to deal with our problem outside.” Allura sighed.

“And getting the Galra advisors out to get to Zarkon.” Shiro added.

“And we’re outnumbered as far as actual soldiers go.” Hunk said, clearly dismayed. 

“Well, before the shifter ran off with my laptop, I was trying to get into the computer system to rig up some security measures. I’m going to get back into that, but we’re going to need Keith and Lance awake.” Pidge said hesitantly.

“We can’t wake them up again.” Hunk shook his head. “Absolutely not, they still need hours in there.”

“I know they’re not perfectly fine again but Keith was  _ amazing  _ with that sword and Lance is a great shot!”

“What do you mean a great shot?” Allura asked.

“That’s a long story, but he’s really good with a gun.” Pidge promised. “I’m not saying they need to roll out and start gunning them down now, but by the time we get down to the last minutes... we’re going to need as many people as we can get.” 


	14. The End

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> “You idiot!” Lance said, tears in his eyes. “You beautiful, utter moron!”
> 
> “You’re... insulting me... right?”
> 
> Lance punched and kissed him again. “I can’t believe you did that!”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> We've come to the last chapter... Thanks so much for reading guys, I love you!

They may not have been excited about it, but everyone had to admit that they needed as much help as they could get. Pidge set up as much of the castle’s defenses as they could with the lockdown in place including a few guns that could be operated from inside where Allura and Shiro would be. Since most Alteans had at least  _ some  _ experience with weapons, they made sure the guards were in front of each entrance, ready to charge the enemy first. They even had the kids help, bringing ammo and anything else through the secret passages that Pidge showed them. 

Hunk got a quick run down of the controls on a big blaster type gun that Pidge assured him was  _ probably  _ not going to blow up in his hands. They knew Keith would favor a sword and Lance a gun so that left Pidge with a little invention they’d been fiddling with that sent out shocks, hopefully short circuiting the sentries. 

They waited as long as they could before getting Keith and Lance out of their pods. The two boys tumbled out again, looking a bit more refreshed and less in pain that before.

“You know, this thing usually works best if we can get through the whole thing.” Lance complained.

“Later, I promise.” Pidge said. “Right now, we need your help.” 

They went over the situation and the plan quickly, hoping the two boys wouldn’t be too groggy from their sleep to get everything thrown at them.

“I guess we don’t have much choice.” Keith stretched his arms, leaning a bit from side to side. He winced a little as he stretched the side he’d been shot on, but the pain was dull enough to ignore.

“Where do we go?” Lance asked.

“You’re both... totally okay with this?” Shiro asked, looking between them.

Keith nodded  “Well it’s not like we can just say no. If you need help, we’re happy to join in.”

“Besides, we need to keep an eye on you guys. Save the day a little more, you know?” Lance winked and put his elbow on Keith’s shoulder. 

The shorter boy pushed his arm off of him with a little shake of his head but also a smile. “Okay, so where are we going?”

“Lance, we’re going to need you up top to survey and take out the ones in the back.”

He swung his hands through the air to cut off Pidge. “Wait, we can’t even be  _ near  _ each other? I didn’t know that was a part of this whole jumping up to help thing.”

“Lance, you can help more from the top.” Pidge tried to explain.

“I can’t help Keith more from the top.” 

Keith looked mildly offended. “What makes you think I need help?”

“You think I’m letting you go up against all those things without me?” Lance asked. “I watched you bleeding out from just a few of those things, there’s no way I’m letting someone else tell me that the same thing happened when I wasn’t there to help you.” 

Keith pulled him close, kissing his lips to shut him up. He knew that if their roles were reversed, he would feel the same way about being kept from Lance. 

“Guys, this is why we can’t let you two out there together.” Hunk said with a heavy sigh. 

“Whatever gets you people out there I don’t care anymore!” Pidge threw their hands in the air. “Can we please just get a move on, you two still need armor!” 

“I call blue.” Lance said with a wink at Keith. “It brings out my eyes, right?”

“I hate you.” Keith said through his smile, both of them following Pidge from the room to get battle ready. 

Hunk was to take Lance’s spot--which Pidge decided was a pretty good idea once he suggested it because, as he said, he’d be less likely to mistake one of their people for one of the robots--and Lance would take his with Keith just behind the guards at the main entrance.

They stood with the other Alteans who held knives or spears or swords or whatever else their weapon of choice was. Allura had told him once that young Alteans would sometimes choose to learn fighting skills under the castle guards for a few years, though few of them stayed for very long or became guards themselves. 

Pidge had mentioned that the shifter had changed into Leelah most recently so he was hoping to catch a glimpse of the real her before all this started but now he just hoped she was tucked away safely in one of the secret passageways. Lance shifted with his gun nervously, casually brushing up against Keith like he couldn’t just turn his head to see him easily enough.

“Don’t shoot me, okay?”

“No promises.” He said. It may have been a pretty signature comeback, but it lacked the signature goofy smile with it.

“Hey. Don’t worry. We can totally do this, all of us.” Keith assured him

There was a crackling noise as Pidge told them there would be; the lockdown was being lifted. Within seconds, there were soldiers pounding on the main doors. The guards in front called out “Steady!” and “Be ready!” as they prepared to fling open the doors and rush their assailants. Keith knew that they were nervous, he could see in how their hands just lingered a bit too long on the handles or hear it on their voices. Still, they didn’t back down. 

The doors sprung open, surprising the first few sentries who entered and giving the guards a head start. Lance aimed his gun between and over the top of heads, advancing with Keith as the latter swung his sword just as expertly as the first time they’d seen him. Hunk picked off the ones in the back with a few other Alteans on the rooftops, trying to keep attention on them.

Pidge was using the other passages to get the advisors to their escape ship as they attacked. He felt pretty targeted but it was like the Alteans were trying to apologize for turning on him during the initial attack by defending him how. Blasts were blocked and deflected all around him and he couldn’t help but accept this unspoken apology.

Just as they predicted, the areas where fighting broke out without Keith to muddle the Galra sensors had very little fighting time at all. The kids led anyone they could through the passages to the main entrance where Keith still held their interest. The others followed the Glara advisors, heading to the launch pad just in Allura and Shiro’s sights. The two of them picked off the robots as easily as Hunk was doing from his perch. 

It seemed like without any casualties or much blood spilled, they would win the day, finally a break from the violence that felt like it had lasted weeks instead of days. Of course just when things felt like they were getting better, they fell apart again. Once the Galra ship took off, safely thanks to Pidge Shiro and Allura, the sentries turned their full attention to the only one left: Keith.

They had nearly pushed the enemy all the way back past where the particle barrier would cut them off before the others converged on them from the side. They had allies from the left, but just as many new enemies from the right. They passed right back out of Shiro and Allura’s sights, leaving them helpless to wait for someone to tell them to put up the particle barrier again where Pidge’s real improvements would shine. 

They all seemed determined to get to Keith which made it easier for the Alteans to get between them and take them down, but also incredibly deadly the closer they got to him. He was staring to worry about everyone stepping in to help him, especially since it’s not like they had any reason now. He wasn’t going to marry their princess, he wasn’t even a prince anymore, yet they never stopped blocking and redirecting beams from getting him again.

Keith had a crazy idea, one that was pretty much the most insane one he’d come up with in the heat of battle, but it was the only option he had. He took a walkie talkie from the Altean next to him to signal Shiro and Allura and pushed through the soldiers, slicing his way forward, away from the castle and to the barrier. Once he got far enough, it was easier to run through them, run towards the cliff and get them away from everyone else. 

He looked over his shoulder, seeing the sentries running behind him. Once he thought he was far enough, Keith told Shiro and Allura to put up the barrier to which they listened. The blue force field went up and he knew the Alteans would be safe. He ran more, now completely on his own against pods full of sentries. Brief memories of running down the hill with Lance and the others passed through his mind as he tried to scatter the soldiers. Maybe that was what people meant when they said your life flashed before your eyes before you died. 

Inside the barrier, the Alteans were yelling at him to come back but he couldn’t, not while while they were so ready to chase him around the perimeter and spread thin for Pidge’s idea to work. From behind him, the sentries started falling. He looked back to see Lance, powering through from the rear of the group and taking as many down as he did. Sweat dripped down his face, there was a small graze across his cheek, and he had this intensely focused expression, all of which made Keith’s knees a little weak. If they weren’t both about to die with Pidge’s explosion, he would have smiled. 

Lance pointed to an oddly shaped rock off to the side that Keith hadn’t seen before. He wasn’t sure what Lance wanted him to do with that information until the Altean prince headed towards it, climbing up out of range of the electric shocks Pidge would send out at his cue. Lance was so smart. He started after him, climbing up as he gave the word to electrocute the sentries. 

Keith slipped near the top of the rock, only catching his balance on the arm Lance stuck out to him. They watched blue streaks of electricity arch to life, frying the robots where they stood in various places around the castle, all of them dropping to the ground in a total victory. Lance finished pulling him up to the top of the rock where he punched him so hard, Keith nearly fell off again.

“Hey!” Keith grumbled.

Lance grabbed his face and kissed him, hard and desperate like he was trying to make up for the punch. 

“Okay, I’m going to get whiplash from all this.” Keith said, out of breath.

“You idiot!” Lance said, tears in his eyes. “You beautiful, utter moron!” 

“You’re... insulting me... right?”

Lance punched and kissed him again. “I can’t believe you did that!” 

“I can’t believe you followed me!” Keith said defensively.

“Of course I followed you, you’re reckless and impulsive! You would have died without me! You think I wanted some of my last words to you be that I might shoot you? Yeah right!” 

Keith couldn’t help but smile even if Lance was totally pissed off at him. He was just so damn attractive when he was mad. 

“Don’t smile at me, I am so mad at you right now!”

“That’s why I’m smiling! I’m alive for you to be mad at me! I’m alive for you to be yelling at me right now!”

Lance’s forced anger melted away to just the overwhelming happiness he felt that Keith was alive. He pulled the Galra boy in to his chest, wrapping his arms tightly around him like he might be able to stop time long enough for them to both catch their breath if he just squeezed a little more. “I’m glad you’re alive.” He mumbled softly.

Keith smiled into his neck. “I’m glad we’re both alive together.”

  
  


It felt like forever until they’d cleaned up the disarray caused by their battle. Keith was almost too excited to toss out all the parts they picked up from the dirt and tossing it away into the trash cans they dragged around with them. Allura and Shiro read them the riot act as soon as the two boys were in earshot, both with tears in their eyes and fierce hugs that they felt were just a  _ little  _ too rough, but they weren’t about to start complaining. 

Pretty much everyone had a similar reaction, even Leelah when they ran into her during the clean up. She’d heard about their “dangerous adventure” and “wished they would just be careful for once, especially after last time” and Keith couldn’t help but smile at the memory of her with her hands on her hips as she scolded them.

While Lance and Keith finished up their time in the healing pods, some Alteans took out their boats and scanned the waters for any more pods and luckily found none. They were relieved that was really, truly the end until Pidge mentioned offhandedly that that was only if the overthrow of Emperor Zarkon went well. By the next morning though, they had that answer as well. The Galra had rallied with Thace and Prorok leading them against the emperor, even more than they expected after they gave their testimony of the attacks, especially those targeting them. Thace explained it would be quite a long time until they would be getting back to the Alliance details while they got themselves back in order, but he promised King Alfor they would be keeping in touch. 

Alfor thanked them over and over a million times, even bestowing high honors on them for their dedication to protecting Altea: the medal of Voltron. Lance would tell him later while they admitted the rings of gold stamped with the robot defender’s likeness, that it had been decades since anyone received one of these medals. 

“I feel like I’d be the Blue Lion.” Lance said as he and Keith sat in the Star Room, heads next to each other but feet pointed oppositely. 

“Hunk mentioned that before too, he said he called being Yellow.”

“Yeah, that one is definitely his.” Lance laughed.

“What do the colors mean?”

“Well first you need to know that you are absolutely the Red Lion.”

“Why?” Keith looked suspicious at Lance’s smile. 

“The legend says he was always the most reckless one.”

Keith bumped him lightly and smiled. He really couldn’t deny the claim, it fit too well for him to pretend it didn’t. “What’s the Blue Lion?”

“Obviously the most attractive, sharp shooter of  the group, duh.” He smiled and turned to look at Keith. 

“Yeah, I’m sure that exactly it.” He turned to look at Lance, gently kissing his nose. “Do you ever think Voltron might come back?”

“I used to think that they would come home, that some sort of accident had happened and they wound up in this time travelling wormhole type thing. Now, I’m pretty sure that’s not going to happen, but I know that it’s out there. The lions are out there somewhere, they have to be.” 

Keith didn’t answer. Instead, he looped his fingers in with Lance’s and looked back up at the stars and planets floating above them. After being stuck back in the healing pods, they were both wide awake yet they found a peaceful silence between them that was too good to disturb by getting up off the floor. Neither one knew how long they’d been here but the sun had gone down a while ago and they wouldn’t have been surprised to see it rise again. 

“Keith?”

“Hmm?”

“Do you ever think about what your life would be like if you were born someone different?” Lance asked softly. 

“I used to.” He admitted. “All the time, I would wonder about my mother having met someone else rather than Zarkon and me being born somewhere different, specifically not a prince. But then I stopped thinking about it because I couldn’t change what was going on anymore than anyone else could.”

“I always used to imagine being the oldest.” Lance said. “If Allura had been born after me I would have been the one running around the solar system, meeting other people. I gave up on that a long time ago too until just recently.”

“Recently?”

“When I told you that I wanted to leave. If I was the oldest, I wouldn’t have had to leave to be with you. We would have just been pushed together anyways and wow would that have been less complicated.”

“Complicated is practically our expertise.” Keith agreed. He rolled over, leaning on his elbows and hovering over Lance’s face. “But either way, we’re here now. I’m not a prince which has it’s own set of problems.”

“It’s not exactly the same as being married to my sister.” Lance laughed.

He smiled back. “True enough.”

Lance leaned up to peck a kiss to his lips then laid back down. “Eventually we’re going to have to leave this room. Eventually we’re going to have to figure out what we do now.”

Keith rolled back over on his back. “Do you think Shiro and I’ll have to leave?” His voice betrayed just how much he worried the answer was going to be yes, he would have to leave forever.

“Don’t worry. Allura and I are working on it.” Lance assured him.

“What do you mean?”

“We’re not letting you leave now, not after all we’ve been through over the past few weeks. You and Shiro are a part of our lives just like when we met Hunk and Pidge. We’ll figure out someway to keep us all together.”

_ Keep us all together _ . Keith was hit with a wave of emotions. He had been so much more worried than he realized. He didn’t want to leave them, not ever. They had become some of the most important people in his entire life, he would do anything to keep them. Keith had never felt at home in the Galra Empire, not even with Shiro there, there was something still left to be desired. Even Altea wasn’t home though, home was sitting in the Star Room or on the edge of a cliff or in a meadow, anywhere with Shiro, Allura, Hunk, Pidge and especially Lance. Home wasn’t a place, it was a feeling a sense of finally belonging somewhere and never wanting to leave. And he’d found it.

He hadn’t realized he was crying until Lance sat up and worriedly wiped his tears away. “Hey, hey, are you okay?” He asked, eyes scanning the Galra’s face.

“I’m better than okay.” He held Lance’s hand to his face and kissed the end of his palm. 

“We really can’t leave you two alone anywhere without you making out, can we?” Pidge said as they burst into the room. Hunk Shiro and Allura followed, bringing in a few snacks as well as a bottle Keith recognized from their first night here. He smiled and sat in a circle with them. They passed around the drink and snacks, sharing hopefully less mess by only bringing one bottle, more kisses particularly between Lance and Keith with complaints over smiles from Pidge, and plenty of stories and memories from everyone. 

Keith was right, this was where he was supposed to be.

As it would happen, Lance completely disagreed. The next morning, he ran to everyone’s rooms and demanded they meet him at the cliff’s edge for a surprise. They expected to see him for breakfast, but he never showed up. 

“Has anyone seen him since he showed up yelling at my door this morning?” Pidge asked.

“Not since my doorway this morning either.” Hunk said.

“I’m guess he’s just got some sort of surprise to share.” Shiro predicted as they walked from the Great Hall and made their way towards the cliff. They stepped through the hole in the rock, but didn’t see Lance waiting for them.

“If he fell off the cliff, I would like everyone to know I warned him a million times.” Hunk said.

They’d nearly made it to the cliff when a ship came up from behind them, blowing their hair and clothes around with big gusts of wind. It touched down on the most level part of the hill and in a few seconds, the main door lowered, revealing Lance surrounded by bags and bags.

He smiled and jumped down. “Sorry, I think I’m just a few second late. Who’s ready to go?”

“Go?” Hunk repeated.

“Go. Leave. Exit. Am I not being very clear?”

Keith knew exactly what he was talking about. He smiled as he approached Lance, kissing the smug smile of his face.

“So when are you two just going to come out and say that you love each other?” Pidge asked in a mocking tone.

The two boys blushed pink and purple.

Keith shook his head. “We’re not...”

“We’re figuring it out.” Lance said with a definitive nod. “Together.”

They boarded the spaceship, taking their seats and getting accustomed to a few of the controls. Lance of course demanded he fly them for the first part of their adventure.

“When did you even learn to fly?” Allura asked.

“I have to entertain myself somehow.” Lance shrugged.

“Where are we even going?” Pidge poked at the navigation system.

“I was thinking we’d figure it out on the way.” Lance looked out the window to see King Alfor and Coran running from the castle towards them. “But we should probably get a move on.” 

Allura giggled and poked a few buttons on the dashboard, pulling up a hologram image of planet Earth. She smiled at Shiro. “I think everyone deserves to go home at some point.” 

He smiled and kissed her lightly to avoid Pidge’s teasing. “Earth it is.” 

Lance pulled them away from the ground, waving to his father and Coran then heading off into the stars, a feeling of utter excitement in his stomach. Keith reached over and laced their hands together. As long as they had each other, he would be happy to go anywhere.

**Author's Note:**

> Thank you so much for reading through to the end. I can't tell you how much your kudos/comments mean to me! I love hearing from you guys always <3


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